


Time, Space, and Everything Between

by Some_Cookie_Crumbz



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Befriending aliens is a normal Summer Pastime right?, Canon Divergent though ends up falling a bit more inline with it, F/M, Implied/ Referenced Torture and Abuse, Other Ships will be tagged in as I determine where I want this to go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-03
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2019-06-20 22:49:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 50,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15543876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Some_Cookie_Crumbz/pseuds/Some_Cookie_Crumbz
Summary: Upon being kicked out of summer camp, Katie Holt ends up getting to spend her summer haunting around the Galaxy Garrison and becoming the little assistant of a researcher. Through this, she meets a strange little alien boy and the course of her fate changes from then on.





	1. Prologue

Part One

 

She watched everything around her with a sharp eye and keen interest.

Bringing your child into work wasn’t something that a lot of Garrison officers typically did – mostly because they weren’t supposed to – but this was a special case. “You see,” Her dad explained to his superior officer with a small, almost-nervous chuckle, “my wife is away visiting family. Her father is terribly ill and, well, we decided it would be better for Katie to stay here. It would be too hard for my dear Colleen to help her mother, whom is also terribly frail, take care of her father as well as keep a seven year old entertained. And it’ll only be for seven, eight weeks, at most!”

Commander Sampson eyed her wearily as her father spoke, still seeming unsure, before turning his attention back to her dad. “Are you sure that she will behave herself, Samuel?” He asked calmly.

“Oh, absolutely! I’ll keep her stuck to my hip like glue!” He promised, smiling wide and reassuringly at the other.

“Will your son also be following you along?”

“Oh, no, Matthew is away at a science summer camp until late August. Colleen should be home by then,” He said. Katie had originally gone to a science summer camp, too, but been kicked out after she stuffed another kid’s bunk with honey to play a real-life game of Ants-in-the-Pants. She was accused of being too rowdy and mean-spirited; she argued that she was standing up for herself against one of the kids bullying her, since none of the camp counselors had tried to help her at all. Samuel had stood beside his daughter, saying something about “bad press” and “negligence lawsuits”, which successfully got both Katie and the other child booted from the program.

Which had left her preening in delight. She may have gone down, but at least she took that jerk down with her.

With a slow exhale through his nose, Commander Sampson turned to Samuel again. “I’ll allow it, but make sure you keep her close at hand. The Garrison is not a daycare; it’s a military organization that trains space explorers,” He said strictly, sizing Katie up one last time, before heading back off to resume his duties.

“Thank you, Sir!” Samuel called after him before beaming down at her. He reached down and ruffled her hair before taking her hand. “Well, looks like you’re going to be getting the grand tour of the Garrison a few years early! You excited?”

“Yeah! Can I sit in for your lectures?” She asked eagerly.

He chuckled and gently steered her towards his office. “Absolutely! But do make sure to behave and stay quiet; can’t have you giving my students all the answers, now, can we?” He chuckled as they headed in. He gathered up his laptop, folders and a few other things before handing her the little messenger bag with some of her things in it. Once she had properly settled the strap on her shoulder, he took her hand and they headed along the halls towards the lecture halls.

And for the first two times she watched his lecture, she’d been enthralled. The third time, however, her interest started to wane. She tried her best to stay quiet – really, she did – but she was bored with this and flopped about in her father’s office chair. Sometimes, when he asked a question and there was a long pause between volunteers to answer, she’d let out a long, pitiful sigh. The students found this hilarious each time she did it, but she could tell her dad was reaching the end of his patience by the time the lecture was over. “Katie, darling, you promised to behave,” He said, keeping his tone gentle as he knelt down and spun the chair around so she was facing him again.

“But I’m bored!” She whined loudly, feeling no need to tone it back now that there were so few students left in the room. The last couple chuckled a bit at her but she ignored them. She flipped around so that she was sitting in his chair upside down. “I like your lecture, but why can’t you do a different one for the next class?”

“That’s not how a teaching plan works, Katie,” He said patiently. He reached down, picked her up, and set her back down in the chair so she was seated properly. “I have to make sure all my students in all my classes are on the same page so they can work together or seek me out if they need additional help with something.”

“Showing the future head of our department a thing or two, Samuel?” A warm voice teased from the large doors leading into the classroom.

Sam chuckled and glanced over. “Hello, Hannah. And I’m just trying to convince my daughter, Katie, to behave despite being bored with my lecture for the day,” He explained, motioning the woman over. Katie thought she looked kind of familiar; an adult she’d probably seen at one of those boring work events her dad had to attend a lot. “Katie, this is Hannah Fritz. She’s one of the head researchers in life on other planets.”

Katie perked up at that, eyes getting bright at that. “You mean you get to study aliens?” She asked.

Hannah giggled politely as she walked down one of the aisles to the table. “Well, so far we haven’t found any in the way you’re thinking; mostly just alien plant life. But it’s still pretty interesting stuff,” She said happily. She then turned her attention back to Sam. “I was wondering if you had a spare tablet charger. I’m working on a new project with a lot of complicated data and, well, I’ve never been good about remembering where I keep those chargers.”

Samuel chuckled and nodded, opening a drawer of his desk and rummaging through. “I swear, between you and the Douglas’, I’m gonna run out of spare cables,” He teased lightly, pulling out a small, bound black cable and offering it to her. “What projects are you working on right now, anyway? I heard they’d transferred you off of the Callisto research study to put you in charge of another program, but didn’t hear any specifics being mentioned.”

Hannah chuckled a bit as she fiddled with the cord. “Oh, just your run-of-the-mill research on a foreign organism located a few miles off. They think it has something to do with that meteor shower a few weeks back but I’m still not sure. You know, Samuel,” She said, her gaze shifting to Katie as she spoke before snapping back up at him, “I could take Katie with me back to my lab, if you’d like. I have some samples and tests to run that I could use a little bit of help with. She could take notes for me and maybe even get to see some of the results up close and personal.” She offered, fiddling with the cable in her hands.

Katie gasped and sat upright immediately, clutching at the arm of the chair and looking at Sam with large, pleading eyes. “Can I, Dad? Pretty, pretty please?”

He looked down at her and scowled. “Katie, darling, I told Commander Sampson that you would stay with me,” He said.

“Aw, Sam,” Hannah laughed lightly, “I’ll deal with Derek. I’m sure he won’t mind so long as she isn’t wandering the halls aimless and alone.”

He still seemed a bit unsure, turning his attention back to Katie. He reached down and gently pushed her unruly copper-tinted bangs from her face. “Do you promise to behave yourself for Hannah? Meaning you’ll mind your manners and do as you’re told and not act out?” He asked.

“I promise I will if you let me go with her!” She insisted, sticking her lower lip out just enough to make it quiver.

He chuckled and ruffled her hair affectionately. “Okay, you can cut it back on the theatrics. Just make sure you keep your promise to listen, because if you don’t, Hannah will bring you back to me in a heartbeat, understand?”

She beamed up and held her arms up, embracing him tightly once he leaned close enough to be reached. “I will! Thank you so much, Daddy!” She slipped out of the chair and took the hand Hannah offered to her, staring up at her excitedly. “Will I really get to look at samples if I behave?”

“Of course! Oh, and I’ll bring her back for lunch, too. I figure, depending on how interesting she finds everything, I could keep her with me after that, too, if it’s okay,” Hannah suggested.

“Let’s just see how she does between now and lunch,” Samuel said, picking her bag up off the floor and gently draping it over her shoulder, “and determine where to go from there, okay?”

“Thank you, Daddy! I’ll see you later!” She called as she walked along with the older woman, waving back at him as they headed out. She looked up at Hannah curiously as they stepped out into the hallway, weaving between the throngs of students darting here and there before the bell could chime again. “Have you ever seen a real alien before? Because my Dad says that aliens are real but that we just haven’t gotten enough proof yet.”

Hannah giggled a bit. “What if I told you that I have a real life alien in my lab, right now?” She asked, leaning down a bit and lower her voice to avoid being overheard.

“Really?” Katie nearly shrieked, eyes shining with excitement.

Hannah gently pressed a finger to her lips but giggled despite herself. “Settle down, dear. We can’t have the whole place finding out about it,” She said gently. Katie gasped quietly and clapped a hand against her mouth, nodding in understanding. “But yes, we did. It’s a small thing and we still don’t know a lot about it, but we’re doing the best we can to learn more about it and why it came to Earth. If you promise to behave and keep this a secret, I’ll let you see the alien.” She said before fishing a key card from her jacket pocket and sliding it through the elevator. She let Katie enter first, then stepped in herself.

“I can keep a secret! I’m really good at keeping secrets!” The little girl promised excitedly.

Hannah offered a small smile. “Then I think we can arrange a little meeting between you and our little alien friend,” She whispered as the doors slid close and the elevator began descending.

The ride in the elevator was mostly quiet, with only Katie’s excited humming to fill the void. When the doors opened, they were in a lower floor area that was filled with transparent cells with cots and toilets but nothing else. It reminded her of a scene she’d seen in a movie she and Matt had watched one night when their sitter fell asleep on the couch while their parents were out. The rooms had transparent, glass doors with multiple little holes in them for oxygen and, if she were to guess, communication. There were tons of other Garrison scientists running about, but they had swapped out their Garrison golds and olives for traditional white scientist coats. Hannah approached an area with desks to their left, already starting to shrug off her blazer. Katie followed after her, unsure of what else to do. “Let me just slip into my proper coat and I’ll take you to see it, okay, Katie?” Hannah said politely.

“Dr. Fritz, _there_ you are! We’ve been looking all over-!” Another scientist, a younger looking fellow with hair that looked like it had just been rubbed against a balloon and wild green eyes darted over, a tablet clutched tightly in his grasp. He cut off, however, when he saw Katie and let out a terrified squawk. “ _Dr. Fritz_!” His voice grew high and cracked with anxiety.

“Oh, settle down, Andy! This is Katie, Commander Holt’s daughter. I’m sure you remember her from the company picnic a few weeks ago, right?” Hannah said with a small wave, finally shrugging her blazer off completely and moving to grab the white coat tossed over the back of the chair. Katie waved politely at Andy before her attention shifted to a picture of Callisto on Dr. Fritz’ desk. She seemed to notice, by how she plucked it up and offered it to her. “Here, if you’d like a better look. Pretty neat, huh, Katie?” She giggled.

“Dr. Fritz, this is _highly_ problematic! We can’t have a _child_ wandering around here with that thing in here! What if word got out? If Commander Wickler found out what we were doing-!” He yelped again when Hannah grabbed him by the lapels of his coat and pulled him closer.

“Commander Wickler won’t find out _anything_ if you keep your _mouth shut_ and let me do my _damn_ job. _I_ know what I’m doing, unlike the _rest_ of you,” She said, keeping her voice quiet to avoid attracting Katie’s attention. She then shoved him back and glared at him. “Now, Andy, why don’t you go make sure our guest is awake and ready for visitors? I promised Katie that she could see it for herself.” She said evenly, turning her attention and a bright smile back to the young girl beside her.

Andy still looked uncomfortable but nodded. “Of course, Dr. Fritz,” He said quietly, rapping his fingers along the tablet as he headed off.

“So you’re a doctor? Do you specialize in aliens?” Katie asked, offering the picture back to Hannah.

She smiled and nodded, calmly placing the picture back on her desk. “Indeed I am. Well, the degree technically says I’m a doctor of Biology, but I’ve always been more interested in the anatomy of foreign entities. This is the first time it’s been something more than a plant or a strange rock, though. This one… This one could yield some real information about what space is like,” She said, her voice becoming awestruck the longer she spoke.

Katie smiled wider herself. She hoped that someday she could be as passionate as Hannah was about her work.

Hannah seemed to snap free of her moment and led Katie along. “Now, I want you to stay close to me. It can get a little aggressive if you get too close to the glass of its cell,” She explained as they walked. Most of the units were empty but the farthest one back was where Hannah finally stopped. “It usually tends to duck under the cot and stay in the corner, but if you lean down and look over, you should be able to see it’s eyes.” She advised, pointing at the area in question.

Katie shifted to her hands and knees to see two narrowed, glowing gold eyes watching her from beneath the mattress of the small bed. She gasped and immediately scrambled upright, sitting cross-legged and leaning a bit closer to the plate-glass of the cell. Hannah stepped back and aside a bit further as she observed Katie’s behavior, going until she was nearly pressed against the glass of the empty cell diagonal from the one the subject was being held in. “Hello,” Katie said with a soft voice, lifting one hand and waggling the fingers in greeting.

The eyes widened a bit before she could see the silhouette of whatever it was moving. She heard Hannah mumble something under her breath but she couldn’t make out exactly what she said. The figure shifted, crawling out while staying low to the ground, and she blinked in surprise at the alien staring back at her. Their eyes were a bright gold with slim pupils, but the eyes were set in a humanoid face of pale purple skin and two triangular marks on either cheek in what seemed to be magenta. There was also a mop of inky hair with two cat-like ears sticking out, the ears covered in a purple fur that matched the color of their skin. The ears also had two little tufts sticking out at the tip, the fur there a slightly darker purple than the rest. It was wearing Earth attire, which she found a little strange, and the bright red shirt paired with tan khakis seemed like an odd fit. She also noticed a long, fluffy purple tail curling behind it and a strange collar of some sort around their neck.

They lifted one of their hands to imitate the gesture.

She shifted a bit closer herself, starting to reach out to touch the glass, when Andy darted back over and gasped. “It came out!” He sputtered in alarm.

Immediately, the alien hissed violently at the new presence, revealing long and sharp looking fangs, before scampering back under the bed. Hannah growled and whipped her head around to glare at Andy. “ _You simple-minded idiot_!” She hissed, walking over to him.

Katie watched them for a moment then scooted a bit closer, leaning up a little so that she could speak near one of the vents. “Hello, my name is Katie,” She called lightly, trying again to get the alien’s attention.

Hannah paused in her berating of Andy and watched, shifting her attention from Katie to the alien inside the cell, whom had perked back up a little bit from the other speaking.

“I take it you haven’t spent a lot of time on Earth, but it’s good that you at least got some clothes. Hopefully it’s not too bad, since I’m not sure how comfy those pants are with your tail and all. I mean, unless a hole was cut in the back so that your tail could come out easier? I can’t really tell, since you seem to like hiding under the bed,” She said.

The alien shifted inside the cell, moving to lay down on its belly, still tense but seeming to be just slightly more complacent. It was the most at ease that it had been since they’d found it half-dead on the side of the road nearly three weeks back.

“So, like, I take it your type of alien are kinda like cats? My Aunt Lucy has a cat that runs under the couch or the bed whenever visitors come over. She says that he’s a scaredy cat, but I think it’s just more that he doesn’t like Matt cause he pets him weird,” She said, tapping her feet together as she spoke. She leaned back a bit on her hands, getting more comfortable. “Matt’s my big brother, by the way. He’s okay when he isn’t being a total jerk. Sometimes he calls me Pidge, cause he says I’m small like a pigeon, and I hate it.” She continued to prattle on for as long while, promising that she’d draw a picture of the new puppy they’d just gotten for him to see while she was eating her lunch.

Slowly, the alien crept back out from under the bed again slowly. They stayed close to the small bunk and kept crouched down, prepared to dart back under the bed at the first sign of hostility, their eyes narrowed in clear suspicion.

“Oh, wait, do you even know what a dog or cat is? I mean, how long have you been on Earth, anyway?” She mused aloud. She pushed herself upright and leaned a bit closer to the glass, holding their gaze as she did.

They stared back at her, their gaze slowly softening, their position becoming a bit more relaxed. Being able to see them a little better, Katie could see what looked like scorch marks poking out from just under the strange collar that had been cinched around their neck. They seemed to realize that she was staring at the marks but they didn’t move.

Katie gently pressed one hand against the glass, a strange sensation making her stomach feel as if it was twisting up in a big mess of knots. “Those look like they hurt,” She mumbled softly.

Their gaze flickered from her to where Hannah and Andy stood at the end of the hallway, their voices hushed and backs turned. Katie watched them for a moment before glancing back at the young alien, watching as their golden eyes gleamed in a mix of fury and fear. Her stomach churned again but she resumed talking, instead starting on a tirade about the summer camp Matt was attending, her mind starting to wander down what, exactly, that look could translate to.

Hannah dropped her back off with her Dad after about two hours, explaining that she had some other things to take care of after lunch, but that maybe they’d see each other the next day.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Dr. Fritz, I don’t understand why you brought that little girl in here. She could tell Commander Holt about the alien and blow the whistle on our research studies!” Andy squeaked out anxiously, clutching the tablet so tightly that it looked like the screen might crack. He was standing beside her desk as she turned her tablet back on, humming quietly as it loaded. He glanced down at the tablet in his hands, at the near-empty document regarding the alien they’d found. He didn’t have much to say about it other than its appearance and the accelerated rate at which it’s injuries had healed.

“Andy, we have a lovely little opportunity placed before us,” She said evenly, plucking out the stylus and beginning to write down some information. Added to her own list of information – which also included the alien’s hostile and volatile temperament, as well as its apparent lack of Earth knowledge or speaking capabilities – she added a few notes to her file.

“What do you mean?” He asked, trying to peer over her shoulder at what she’d written. Instead, she turned her chair around with a quick snap and pointed her stylus at him, less than an inch from touching his nose. He took a step back and gulped.

“How about instead of questioning me,” She mused, her tone sugary sweet and fatal, “you _follow my orders_ to assure the integrity of our research? Katie Holt can be an interesting little pawn to help us figure out where this thing came from. That kind of information could be invaluable to the Garrison.” She glared before tilting back in her seat, adjusting to reread the report she had drafted up about her research for the day.

**Subject is a potential juvenile specimen of species; more data needed to confirm. Subject seems to have a higher tolerance for pain than humans; electrocution caused clear pain, but had a higher tolerance than human before pain reached excessive levels. Heightened healing element continues to be prominent factor; wounds caused by electrocution assessment seemed to heal more effectively than would heal for a human specimen once current was shut down. Healing element only seems to take effect once injury has ceased but will need to conduct further research to confirm. New assessments are being completed to determine the intelligence and amount of knowledge the subject has about Earth culture and habits. As of now, seems to recognize inflection and volume as indicators of intent of words; ability to understand the language has yet to be determined. Assessment schedule shall be properly scheduled and finalized to determine.**

She smirked and picked her tablet back up. “Andy, go get a testing room and tranquilizer gun ready, would you? I want to run a few more tests on the subject’s limitations in regards to pain tolerance and the healing aspect of it before I start figuring out a proper schedule for the rest of the tests,” She said while standing up.

The other nodded and headed off, glancing back over his shoulder as she headed down along the aisle to the cell it was resting inside. Shortly after Katie had left, it seemed to go back on the defensive, its anxiety hyped up. “You must be so lonely, aren’t you?” Dr. Fritz giggled, lightly rapping her knuckles against the glass.

A hiss that was most likely meant to sound threatening was her answer.

“Don’t worry now, little one. I think I can schedule regular play dates for you and Katie. Would you like that? Having a little friend to talk to?” She mused, pushing away from the glass to close the tablet and tuck it into one of the large inner pockets of the coat. “So long as we keep things under wraps, Katie will continue playing into our hands quite nicely. We can assess of how much use you’ll be to us. And who knows! Perhaps we’ll even be able to locate whatever kind of ship you came here on! That would certainly be a discovery worth something to Commander Wickler; maybe even keep us from getting read the riot act for keeping you under wraps!” She said with a happy sigh, pressing one hand to her chest.

If she could just make that a reality, everything she’d been through would be worth it. All the scathing mockery about how aliens were just fictitious, on how she had wasted her time on the papers she’d written over the years detailing how there had to be other intelligent life somewhere in the world, all the time the department she helmed had its budget cut severely due to “circumstantial research findings”! None of them would be able to condescend to her anymore once she had enough information to provide Commnader Wickler with! Just a few more studies and she would be ready to do a full autopsy of this creature’s inner workings, to determine how similar it was to a human being.

Andy reappeared a moment later with the gun she’d asked for, passing it over uneasily. “Dr. Fritz, I wasn’t sure what you wanted to check so I just set out a whole bunch of different options. I hope that’s acceptable,” He stammered out uneasily.

Dr. Fritz turned and smiled, a cruel little thing, and gave his cheek a little pat. “Thank you, Andy. I’ll meet you in there in a moment. Oh, and be sure to get the scalpels and scissors out for me as well,” She said before pulling a small key card from her pocket. This one was different from the one she used for the elevator, a bit smaller and pale blue in hue, so that she could distinguish them and avoid getting asked questions about the smaller one. She slid it through the card reader beside the cell and beamed as the door slowly slid up.

The subject, as she had learned once before, was surprisingly quick, but luckily she was a faster shot.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For about two weeks, Katie would go with Hannah down to her research area for a few hours a day, spending the time sitting and talking at the alien. The alien never spoke back, but she could tell that they understood her, and it seemed that they liked her talking with them. Normally Hannah or Andy would stay close by and monitor her interactions with them. No matter how far away the two adults got, though, if the alien could see them then they’d remain tense and reserved. They looked like they wanted to talk to her, but something about the two grown-ups kept them from it. What she needed, though, was a way to communicate with him.

Thankfully enough, she’d come to a solution that night before bed, and had eagerly put it in her little bag the night before.

Katie was thrilled to bits when Hannah stopped by that day, offering to take her for most of the day to make things easier on Samuel. “I can see why you wanted to bring her with you, Sam,” Hannah said with a bright smile. She reached down and gently gave Katie’s shoulder a squeeze. “She’s such a good little assistant!”

Sam stared at her in surprise, blinked, and then chuckled a bit. “My, you must really be able to keep her interest then! If she doesn’t enjoy something, she tends to become a bit unruly!” He said.

“Alien plants can be rather interesting, I’ll have you know,” She teased lightly. “If it’s okay, I’d like to take her on for as long as she’s here as my helper. I could take here around the same time every day, bring her back up for lunch, take her back to my lab afterwards, and then bring her back in time for your last lecture of the day. Would that be okay?”

“So long as she wants to go and you don’t mind having her, I suppose there isn’t a problem with it,” He said, smiling at his daughter. There was comfort in knowing that she was gaining more knowledge despite not being in the camp still. At least this way he didn’t have to worry about her getting bullied by a bunch of immature little ingrates.

Katie smiled up at him as if he’d just promised she could have ice cream for dinner all week. “Thank you, Daddy!” She said, hugging his legs.

“You have fun, and make sure you listen to Dr. Fritz. If you start misbehaving she’ll have no problem bringing you back up here, and we both know how fast you’ll get bored with being up here,” He said calmly, kneeling down to give her a proper hug.

He gave the tip of her nose a little tap at his last words, eliciting a small giggle from her. “I promise! I love you and I’ll see you at lunch!” She beamed, waving as Dr. Fritz led her out of the lecture hall.

He smiled and waved back, a sense of relief washing through him at his daughter being well-looked after.

“Can I ask a question, Dr. Fritz?” Katie asked curiously as they walked along.

“Katie, you can call me Hannah. We’re friends, after all,” She said, her smile and voice warm to the younger beside her.

The younger beamed up at her. “Okay, Hannah. I wanted to ask about… Um… The alien,” She said, lowering her voice and mouthing out the last bit. Hannah hummed and nodded as they got into the elevator. “Well, where did you find them? Were they out attacking people? Or were they, like, eating power lines or something?” She asked curiously.

“Oh, I found it while doing some additional work. See, I had driven to a separate Garrison base to assist another researcher with examining some samples they acquired from a meteor,” She explained as she slid the card key through and began the descent. “I was driving home to my hotel late one night, and it ran out into the road from the tree line nearby. At first, I thought I had just hit a large dog or something, but when I stopped, I found it. I figured this would be a wonderful chance to learn a bit more about the life forms we share the universe with.”

Katie’s brow knitted a bit at her words. “Do you think… Do you think it was _lost_? And that was why it ran out into the road?” She asked worriedly.

“I suppose that is one answer to be considered,”

“But, it’s really little… Not really much bigger than me. What if it has a Mommy and Daddy looking for it?”

“Katie, darling, it is much better that it be here. After all, it clearly knows next to nothing about human culture or life on Earth; it wouldn’t have the first clue on how to return to wherever it landed. And the poor thing was terribly injured from being hit! If not for me bringing it here, it most certainly would have died. I have saved it’s life by bringing it here, where it can be monitored and protected from a world it cannot understand or adapt to,” She said calmly as they reached their floor. The doors slid open and she gently ushered Katie out and into the front room. “It’s a win-win situation for us all, really. It stays alive and well-fed; we gain more knowledge about what aliens in our universe are capable of.”

Katie nodded mutely but something about her expression still seemed a bit off. Choosing to read her silence as anticipation, Hannah hurried her along to the cell.

Andy was there, carefully shoving a tray of food into the cell through a slim slot on the floor. He looked over and plastered on a nervous smile. “A-Ah, Katie Holt! Welcome back to our neck of the woods!” He said, glancing from her to Dr. Fritz uneasily.

His response from his boss was a curt nod. “We’ll have to see if it’ll come out to eat. It hasn’t seemed too keen on having guests during meal times,” Hannah advised Katie as she settled on the floor in front of the cell, much like she had the day before.

“Maybe none of the things you’ve wanted to talk to them about are things they want to talk about,” Katie said as she opened her little bag and fished out her drawing pad and markers. She flipped through the first couple of pages to get to the drawing she was looking for. “I mean, I know I’d be less likely to want to eat without someone to have a fun talk with.”

A quick glance over the top of her page revealed two gleaming yellow eyes keyed in on her. Good, she had their attention. That was a start.

She turned her attention back towards her drawing as she started to drag the marker along the page. “So, it’s clear you aren’t from Earth. So you must be from some place really far away and really cool, huh? But I guess Earth is kinda cool to you? Since you’ve never been here before?” She asked. After a small pause, she set her coloring utensils down, turned her drawing pad around and pushed it against the glass. “I drew that picture for you, just like I promised! This is Bae Bae, my doggie. He’s just a baby doggie right now, but my Dad says that he’ll get a lot bigger as he gets older.”

The alien crept out a bit further and settled to imitate her posture, sitting on the other side of the glass to stare at her picture and then look up at her again. They blinked twice, seeming amused, and her delight at having their attention grew.

She smiled and pulled back her drawing book, flipping it to another drawing. “And this is a picture of a pigeon. I remembered that I told you about them earlier, when I was talking about Matt, but I’m not sure if you know what one is? I mean, I’m sure you saw some while you were out in the forest, before Hannah found you. But you probably didn’t know what they were called,” She said.

The alien slowly dipped their head a bit in acknowledgement, ears perking up and tail slowly swaying behind them.

“You should probably eat your food. I’ll draw another picture for you while you eat,” She suggested, glancing over at the tray. On the tray was what seemed to be oatmeal, toast, and a banana. That didn’t seem like a very big breakfast, but maybe that was all it wanted to eat? She turned her sketchbook back over to the page she’d been working on before, resuming her drawing and switching out her markers.

The alien looked over at the tray and made a small face, their nose wrinkling up before taking up the banana and starting to peel it open. Katie paused in her drawing to watch them as they did, their eyes locking just as they pulled back on the top and started peeling the other ends open. All along both his hands she could see the faint outline of what looked like cuts and healing scrapes; some of them small and narrow, while one right above his left wrist was much larger and seemed deeper, despite the fact it was already scabbing over.

Katie knew for a fact those hadn’t been there the day before.

She looked from him to Andy and Hannah, standing off by the entrance to the hallway of rooms, much like they had done the day before. She couldn’t hear them with how far away they were, but she could see that Andy looked clearly upset and Hannah’s hand gestures seemed very angry and bossy. She shifted closer to the cell and lowered her voice a bit. “You can understand me, can’t you?” She asked quietly.

The alien’s eyes widened a bit, a gleam that seemed like a mix of hope and anxiety in their bright eyes, before swallowing their mouthful and nodding.

“You know what I’m saying? And, if you wanted to, you could talk to me?” She clarified, keeping her voice quiet despite how rapidly her little heart was hammering away in her chest.

Again, they nodded in response, becoming a bit more frantic with their gestures.

“Do you know your colors? Like, you know what all of these colors are?” She asked, glancing back to place one hand over her marker box.

Yet another nod and their ears were sitting straight up now, as if to help show their mood had been lifted significantly.

She prepared to say something else, but heard the rustle of a lab coat and quickly flipped to a picture she’d drawn the other days. “Oh, and this is a plate of peanut butter cookies! It’s one of my favorite snacks. Maybe I can bring some for you to try some time,” She said, holding the picture up against the glass again.

She heard a quiet chuckle and then felt a hand gently pat her head. “Everything going well here, Katie?” Hannah asked.

“Oh, yeah, just showing them some cool Earth stuff,” She said quickly, flashing the older woman a wide grin.

“That’s very nice of you. Do you think you’d be okay if I stepped away for just a bit, to look over some files at my desk?” She asked. The alien’s ears drooped and their tail wrapped around them, the sudden shift in position and mood instilling a bit of fear in Katie as well. She had to keep on a brave face, though.

“Yeah. Um, Hannah, can I ask a question first, though?” She asked quietly, shifting in nervous excitement.

“Of course, Katie. What’s on your mind?” She mused, kneeling down to be a bit more level with the girl as they spoke.

“Well, there isn’t really a lot for them to do in that room,” She said, glancing briefly into the cell. She flashed a smile at the bemused stare the alien gave her before turning her attention back to Hannah, holding her sketchbook up in front of her. “Would it be okay if I let them draw some pictures? I mean, my book isn’t that big so it should fit through the little slot, as long as I don’t push the markers and the book in at the same time. Maybe having something to do will help them feel better.”

Hannah blinked a bit in surprise then smiled and nodded, her eyes falling to watch the alien. The look in her eye as she watched them through the glass of the cell made Katie’s skin feelt itchy, like when she’d found a big cockroach under her desk one time. “Why, that’s a brilliant idea. I don’t think there’d be anything wrong with that, but I do have just one little favor to ask. Will you let me see the drawings it does, if it does end up doing any, before you leave for that day?” She asked.

“Of course,” She said, cheery disposition still in place. She waited until Hannah turned and started down the hallway to finish up the drawing she’d been working on, then tore the page out quietly, the alien watching her curiously as they finished eating the banana. She held it up to the glass. “I came up with an idea for a code we could use to talk without them knowing what we’re saying. Each letter of the alphabet is assigned to a different symbol and color. We can add these little colored symbols to our drawings and they won’t know. Just make sure to hide it if they come over, and slide it back over to me later.” She whispered.

The alien looked like they were in awe as she shifted over and slipped the little cheat sheet over to them. Shortly after she sent over the markers, turned to the page she’d prepared, then slid that over as well. “This is an example of how I did it, in case you weren’t sure,” She said quietly.

The alien smiled at her drawing – an owl – then looked from the symbols she’d drawn under it to the sheet she’d given him. She had put small squiggles and dashes between each word, probably to keep it from being too obvious, but they could still make out the message of, “My name is Katie and my favorite animals are owls.”

Katie sat and waited patiently, watching with a smile as the alien looked at the chart and put together their message, then settled on the drawing they wanted to attach. Then, once completed, they slid it all back under, making sure to tuck the cheat sheet under the page they’d drawn on. She turned to the page and giggled quietly at the little purple hippo grinning at her. She then looked over at the message. “My name is Keith and my favorite animals are hippos,”

She drew a picture of a video game controller next. “My favorite thing to do is play video games,” She wrote, and then added underneath that one, “So you know about some Earth stuff? Was this not your first time coming here?”

His next drawing was a stack of books. “I really like to read; especially books about adventures and exploring. And I was born here on Earth. I come back to visit my Dad every summer with my Mom, so I know a lot,”

“Wow… So you’re half human?” She asked aloud, looking up at him in surprise. He nodded and slowly smiled at the huge grin she was sporting. “That’s _so cool_!” She said, keeping her volume down to avoid being overheard, before looking back down at her sketchbook and turning the page. She drew a picture of a butterfly next, just for the sake of drawing something. “So that’s why you can understand English?” She made sure to pair her last question with the picture, just to be safe.

“My Dad taught my Mom how when she was here on Earth before I was born, and then she taught me. She wanted me to be able to talk to my Dad when we came to visit,” He explained, drawing a strange creature that looked like a cross between a dragonfly and a bee, with large green eyes but a striped body that was black and blue.

“Can you speak your Mom’s language too?” She drew a bunch of balloons next.

“Yeah, but sometimes it gets kind confusing. The language of the Galra has words that sound a lot like English so sometimes I get things mixed up. Mom says I’ll get better at that as I get older, though,” He drew what looked to be a comet of some sort.

“So is Galra what type of alien your Mom is?” An oak tree, this time.

“Yeah,” His answer was what seemed to be a tree as well, looking like a weeping willow but with luminous purple leaves and a bright yellow trunk.

This time she drew a picture of the family car. “So if you aren’t always on Earth, do you live with your Mom on her home planet?”

“The Galra don’t have a home planet. We live on a base for the Blade of Marmora,” He answered, drawing a picture of a large black ship with purple lights.

“What’s the Blade of Marmora?” She asked, drawing a picture of the small bed of roses her Mom had planted under her window last year.

“It’s a secret organization that fights bad guys, like the other Galra,” He said, drawing a picture of a black hole with debris and such being sucked into it.

She responded with a picture of a rubber duck. “But aren’t you Galra?”

“Yeah, but my Mom and me are good Galra. There are bad Galra that listen to an evil emperor called Zarkon. They hurt a lot of beings across the universe and the Blade of Marmora is trying to get them to stop,”

“How are you going to do that?”

“We need to find the Lions of Voltron and protect them from being found by Zarkon and his troops. If they get them, then every universe ever will be at risk,”

Katie took a bit of extra time to draw a picture of her family, as she realized that most of their other drawings had been very basic and simple things. “That sounds like really important work. My Mom’s away right now doing really important work with my Grandpa,” She jotted down the message before shoving the notebook back through the slot.

He turned to a clean page and started to draw as well, but slowly his motions slowed. Katie watched worriedly as two little drips fell on to the page. He had drawn himself, a taller purple Galra that she assumed was his Mom, and a tall human man, clearly his Dad. “Keith?” She whispered.

“I miss my Mom and Dad,” He choked out, looking from the page to her. Tears will spilling from his eyes shamelessly, and one sharp little tooth was protruded to gnaw on his lower lip. He took in a shaky breath to try and calm himself back down, but it didn’t help. “I want to go home!”

“Why don’t you tell Hannah that?”

“She’s the one who won’t let me leave! She keeps doing awful things to me!” He proclaimed, voice cracking in his frantic hysteria.

Katie’s eyes widened. “You mean _she_ did this to you?” She asked quietly, looking at the marks on his neck and hands.

He took in a shuddering breath and nodded, reaching up and tapping the collar with one finger. “She uses this collar to monitor how I react to things. And if I start to fight back too much, then it shocks me until I stop! She made it shock me so much one time that I passed out!”

She stared at him before clenching her hands into tiny fists. “She shouldn’t be doing this to you… She should be trying to help you get back to your parents,” She mumbled, her own voice catching in her anger. She looked down at the other end of the hallway, scowling, and then whipped her head around to look back at Keith. “If she won’t help you, then I will. I’ll find a way to break you out and help you get home.”

He gawked at her with wide eyes before growling, his ears flattening against his skull. “How are you going to do that? She’s the only one who can open this door! And she only ever does when she wants to hurt me!” He hissed out.

Katie flinched a bit when she heard a clatter from the other end of the hallway. It sounded like Hannah saying something to herself. “Katie, is everything okay back there? I thought I heard another voice,” Hannah asked, speaking loudly to be heard from her spot at her desk.

“Everything’s fine! I was just doing a funny voice for the story I was telling the alien!” She called back, hoping that she sounded collected enough to keep the adult away. She turned back to him and held his gaze, her own expression serious. “I’ll find a way. Just be strong and give me a little bit of time. I won’t let them keep hurting you. I’ll help you get back to your Mom and Dad. I promise,” She vowed, her voice growing softer as she spoke.

“It’s getting late, sweetie, so we should probably wrap it up for right now. Your father should be going on lunch break soon,” Hannah called out again, but Katie barely paid her any mind. She was more focused on making sure that Keith knew that she was his friend and that she was going to help him, no matter what.

He stared for a moment, his own ears twitching at the distinct click of heels along the tiled floor, before nodding and shoving the notebook and markers back through to her. Katie took them, then paused and tore out the picture he’d drawn of his family and shoved it back through. “Keep this picture with you. It’ll help you remember our promise and stay strong,” She said gently.

He stared at her in a strange mix of surprise and gratitude, before folding the paper up and stashing it under his shirt. Just as Hannah walked over, he darted back under the cot in his cell. “Oh, he went back into hiding, huh?” She asked, sounding just the slightest bit disappointed.

“He must not like you as much as he likes me,” Katie said with a small shrug, putting her markers and notebook away in her little bag.

“Oh, you’re incredibly blunt, aren’t you?” The older woman laughed lightly, watching the younger girl in amusement. “I will admit that I prefer your honesty, though. It’s better to be upfront with others than to tell lies and pull tricks. Well, let’s get you back to your Dad. I’m sure he’d love to see some of the pictures you’ve drawn while you two have lunch.”

“Of course,” She agreed, following after her. As they walked out of the hall of cells, Andy moved past them, nearly bumping into the young child, carrying a small tray of food. He looked down at her and offered a small, nervous smile. Katie responded by offering him a small glare, causing him to physically flinch back.

“W-What a scary expression!” He mumbled quietly to himself as he shifted to push past them, sending a worried glance over at Dr. Fritz.

She looked from him to the younger girl, whom had returned her expression to a more neutral one, to glare up at the other researcher. “Be more careful, Andy! You could have hurt poor Katie!” She snapped, gently tugging her a bit closer. Andy flinched again and hurried along his path. “I’m sorry about that. Sometimes Andy just doesn’t pay attention to where he’s going.”

“It’s okay,” Katie said, plastering one a small smile as she let the other woman lead her back to the elevator. While she had lunch, she removed the pictures of Earth things that Keith had drawn and hidden them in her bag. She wasn’t sure what Hannah would do if she learned that he was half human, either to Keith himself or his parents if she ever managed to find them.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Keith shifted and curled tighter in on himself under the cot, staring at the little picture Katie had given back at him. He just wanted to go home and be with his parents. He had known his parents always insisted that he stay close to their home for a reason, but he certainly hadn’t been expecting what had happened to him. He understood why his Mom had constantly insisted that, if he wanted to go into town with his Dad, he wear the small masking device the Blade had developed, masking his Galran appearance into seeming purely human. His Mom always wore one, too, when they went out all together, and for the longest time he didn’t really get it. His Mom always told him that most humans wouldn’t react well to what he actually looked at so he had to stay hidden while they were on Earth.

And now he knew what she meant, in the most horrific way imaginable. But now he had Katie trying to help him.

He wanted to trust that she would help him. She was so upset over how scared he was. But he also knew that she was just a kid like him. What could she really do? He didn’t trust that Dr. Fritz or her assistant would be willing to hear

“Today, I’m thinking we should see if its lungs have any extra capacity, or perhaps an ability to breath under water. We still have the dunk tank from when we were testing out those new blasters, right?” Dr. Fritz asked as she walked over, loading the gun with a fresh dart.

“Of course, Dr. Fritz,” Andy said, his tone just the slightest bit distracted.

“Very good. Go get everything set up for me, then,” She said lightly, her voice bright and airy in delight. She lightly rapped her nails against the glass and hummed thoughtfully. “Your little pictures of space were cute and rather interesting. If only you could actually speak and tell me about what you’ve seen yourself. It would certainly give me a better idea of what to expect with you. But, then again, I think figuring out the mystery of what you are is more interesting for me.” His fluffy ears perked up at her laugh.

He shoved the picture away, wanting it to be safe still, and prepared himself for whatever was to come.


	2. Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With time running out and Keith's physical condition seeming to worsen, a plan is made to help get him out. It then just becomes a question of the plans success, and if Keith's elusive, secretive parents can actually be located for a reunion to take place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cautionary Warning: Mentions of Torture and Minor Gore

Part Two

 

Another two weeks rolled by with Katie struggling to figure out how to help her friend. She wasn’t sure who else in the Garrison she could turn to for help. Hannah would just dismiss her claims as make-believe fantasies Katie made up while helping her with her research if she tried to reach out to higher ranking officials. Her only option was telling her Dad, but she was unsure if he would believe her without anything to offer as concrete proof. For as much as he supported her, it was clear that he and Hannah had known each other a long time, and they were both adults. He’d be more inclined to listen to another adult than a grade schooler. Despite trying to discreetly call attention to how Keith was doing and feeling, it was clear that neither Hannah nor Andy were actually listening to her. It was frustrating for her, knowing that her friend was suffering and that none of the adults would listen to her.

But it was frighteningly clear that Keith was getting worse. The middle portion of his tail had been scorched really badly, the fur completely gone and instead replaced with blisters, and Katie noticed he’d started to wheeze as the days dragged on. “They dunked me in freezing water and held me there until I passed out,” Keith had told her through their drawings. He’d drawn a picture of a desert sunset over a large, imposing looking cliff. It must have been a familiar landmark, she reasoned. “And when I woke up, they had me strapped down and started sticking needles into me. I’ve been really sore and stiff ever since.” The marks along his neck from the collar were looking a lot worse, and there seemed to be additional scratches showing up from where he’d tied to pry it off himself.

She could tell that, between his feeling unwell and her continued inability to find a solution, he was starting to lose hope. He perked up with significantly less excitement when she came to see him. He would still engage with her in drawing and conversations through them, but it seemed to be less out of a real desire to and more to have something to do. She had gained some other little tidbits of information from him about his parents but he was more hesitant to talk about it as the days dragged on longer. All she had was that his Dad’s name was Ethan Kogane and that he helped to save people, though Keith didn’t elaborate further than that in regards to his career. There were some other small details about his Dad’s appearance that he mentioned, too, but he didn’t seem to have much to say about where his family lived. Keith never offered names for any towns or cities near their home, though, and the other landmarks he remembered that he drew for her weren’t ones she recognized.

What scared her even more, though, was how fear was starting to get a firm grip on him. He flinched even more when Hannah or Andy came around, and it got harder and harder for Katie to not lash out at the adults in his stead. She’d actually yelled at Andy once when the sound of him dropping the tray startled Keith so bad he darted back under the cot in his cell. Hannah had supported Katie in her shouting but it only made her feel angrier that the older woman pretended to be her friend.

The moment of do-or-die hit Katie on Monday, though, when Hannah brought her back from her afternoon with Keith.

“It sounds like things are settled down right now with Colleen’s father, so she’ll be picking her up from the airport on our way home. Since she’ll be home, Katie won’t need to keep coming with me,” Sam said with a small smile when they arrived, reaching down to ruffle her hair affectionately.

For a moment, terror gripped her, before Hannah let out a disappointed sound. “Can’t you at least let her finish out the week? We’re so close to figuring something out and Katie’s been such a big help… I’d hate for her to not get to see the end results,” She said gently.

“Well, I’ll have to talk it over with Colleen. The last few weeks have been very hard on her and I don’t think she’ll be fond of the idea of spending all day alone,” Samuel said. It wasn’t much, but maybe Katie could make this work for her. If her parents would believe her about Keith, then she could get their help to save him!

“At least consider it, if you would, and let me know what you decide,” Hannah said before scampering off, a look of irritation on her face when she was turned away from Samuel.

Katie looked up at her Dad with eyes filled with hope. “Daddy, I really need to stay here for the week. I promise to be a good girl if you let me,” She vowed, waiting until the doors at the other end of the lecture hall shut with a soft click. She looked back at the door briefly before looking back up at him. “Please, please, _please_! This is _really_ important and I _need_ to be here! If I don’t stay to help then-!”

“Katie,” He sighed as he turned to gather his things into his bag. She stared at him, expectant and hopeful. “Sweetheart, I know that you’ve been having a lot of fun helping Hannah with her plant studies, but I can’t make any promises. Mom’s been gone most of the summer and has missed us a whole lot. We need to talk about this with her first.” He kept his tone even and patient, calmly tossing the strap of his bag over his shoulder. Her little fists clenched at her side and she took in a large hiccupping breath, tears barely staying clutched at the ends of her eyelashes. “Katie?”

“Daddy, if I don’t stay then they’re gonna hurt Keith and I _can’t_ let them do that! Keith is my friend and I made a promise to help him get back to his Mom and Dad!” She wailed, unable to keep her calm. The idea of never seeing Keith again, of all the awful things Hannah and Andy could do to him, scared her. She didn’t want her friend to always be hurt and sad and scared.

Samuel blinked, confused for a moment. “Katie, did… Did you name the research subject?” He asked in slight surprise.

She shook her head. “Keith is his name, he told me so! He’s an actual alien, Dad! From outer space!” She insisted frantically. He continued to stare at her in confusion and she huffed, pulling her drawing book from her bag. “Here! Me and Keith have been drawing pictures together and sending secret messages! I can prove it!”

He reached down and took the book, curiously flipping through the sketches. “Oh, these are very creative, sweetheart. You’ve done very… Wait,” He paused suddenly, on one of Keith’s sketches, and looked from the picture to her. She took in another shuddering breathe, trying not to get too excited over the look on his face. It was the face he wore when he was concentrating really hard on something, like when he graded test papers and essays from his students.

“What is it?” She asked, pushing herself up on to her tip-toes to try and see what his was looking at.

Samuel stared at the page, then flipped back to one that he knew was drawn by his daughter. “These markings,” He mumbled to himself, looking at the marker streaks between the two pictures, lightly grazing his fingers along the curious page in question. These, he realized, couldn’t have both been drawn by his daughter; there were marks on the other page that clearly came from someone who was drawing them with their left hand. Katie was right handed and, unless she’d been taught the skill in the last few weeks, had never exhibited any trace of potentially being ambidextrous. Additionally, he couldn’t recall a single person in the alien life form research department that was left handed or ambidextrous. “Katie… You said your friend Keith drew these?” He asked, looking from the picture to her.

She nodded her head eagerly, amber eyes coming alive with hope. “Yeah! He’s half-Galra, which is a type of alien!” She said.

“I see… What does he look like?”

“He’s fluffy and purple, with ears and a tail like a cat! He’s a little bit bigger than me, but not by much. Hannah said one time that he’d a… Um… ‘Jubilee’ of his type of alien, I think?” She mumbled uncertainly.

“Was the word she used ‘juvenile’?”

“Yeah! That’s the word she said!” She agreed, gently setting her hands on his arm and squeezing gently.

Samuel nodded before carefully closing the notebook and handing it back to her. “For now, put this back in your bag. We’re going to talk with Mom about this after dinner and see what we can do, okay? I’m sure your Mom and I can help find a way to get him out of there,” He said, setting a hand on her shoulder and giving a small, reassuring squeeze. She smiled and nodded, a sense of relief creeping into her. If her Mom and Dad helped her, she knew that she’d be able to help Keith get home.

She spent the car ride excitedly bouncing in her seat, and had been barely able to keep from busting out her notebook at the dinner table to show to her Mom as well. They’d decided that they’d go out to a nice restaurant, which they only did occasionally, in celebration of Papa’s improving health and her Mom’s return home. Instead, she bounced in her seat, drawing a picture of Keith to show her parents later, and listened to the latest details about her cousins and aunts and uncles. While she wasn’t particularly close to any of them, due to how far away they lived and a huge age difference between she and even the youngest of her cousins, who had just finished their last year of middle school, it was somewhat interesting hearing about all the grown-up things they were doing.

The minute they walked through the door of their home, though, Katie was rushing to the kitchen table, already scrambling to fish out her sketchbook. It didn’t seem to matter that it was a quarter until nine for her. “We need to talk,” Samuel said quietly, setting Colleen’s bags by the door as he pushed it shut with his foot.

She offered him a small laugh. “So serious, Samuel. It must be important than,” Her small smile slowly faded at the somber look on her husband’s face.

He indicated the path Katie had blazed to the kitchen. “Something shady seems to be going on at the Garrison, and Katie’s got information about it,” He said. She sucked in a small breath through her teeth, letting him gently lead her through the threshold of their home with a hand on her back. “I’ve been letting her help Hannah Fritz with some research while she’d been at the Garrison with me. She would get bored during my lectures, and it didn’t seem like anything unsavory. I mean, Hannah’s normally just researching planet life that’s been found on other planets. I didn’t think… Well, I suppose you’ll understand soon enough yourself.”

When they walked into the kitchen, Katie had already torn out the picture she’d drawn of Keith and set it between the seats they usually took. They exchanged a glance before settling in, Colleen picking the picture up first and looking at it curiously. “This in a wonderful drawing, Katie,” She said warmly.

“That’s a picture of my friend, Keith!” Katie said. As Colleen handed the picture over to Samuel, she shoved the notebook into her mother’s hands. “He and me have been drawing messages back and forth! Hannah and Andy have been doing bad things to him, and he wants to go home to his Mom and Dad, but they won’t let him! We’ve been using this secret code to talk to each other so that no one knows what we’re saying, since Hannah looks at the pictures we draw before she takes me back to Dad every day.” She explained, pulling the secret code cheat sheet from where she’d tucked it and offering it to her as well.

She sat in fidgety silence as her parent’s leaned in close, speaking in soft and concerned tones as they looked between her pictures, Keith’s pictures, and deciphered the different messages. Colleen noticed the oddity of the marker streaks just as quickly as Samuel had, knowing immediately that this was more than just the wild imaginings of her daughter at work. She paused on the picture Keith had drawn of his family, her fingers settling over the image of Keith’s mother and him, then looked up at Samuel, her gaze that of concern. “These drawings… He can’t be more than just a child,” She said gently.

“Katie says that he’s a Galra,” Samuel added in.

“ _Half Galra_! His Mom is a Galra but his Dad is a human!” Katie corrected politely.

Samuel offered her a smile, though it didn’t seem to reach his eyes. “Thank you, Katie, that was my bad. Half Galra. I’m not exactly sure where or how Hannah came across him, but you’re correct about him being a child as well. Probably around Katie’s age, though he may be just a little bit older,” He explained.

“Hannah said that she found him in the desert. She said she hit him with her car when she was driving back from another Garrison base and decided to bring him back with her,” Katie announced quickly.

“He’s just a child and they’re keeping him _locked up_?” Colleen asked in bewilderment.

Katie nodded. “They’ve been hurting him a lot. Every time I go to see him, he has new owies. Lately, he hasn’t been able to breathe so good and he’s always so scared when either of them comes into the room,” She said, the worry and fear creeping into her own tone. She swallowed hard as both adults turned their attention back to her. “He misses his Mom and Dad a whole lot, and he just wants to go home. But any time he tries to get away, they just hurt him even more. And he’s too scared to talk to them at all.”

Colleen nodded and looked back down at the little picture, her heart aching for the poor child. Katie may not have realized what exactly they were doing, but Colleen recognized the “owies” as being research studies. To do such a thing to what was clearly just a grade-school aged child, to the point that now he was having breathing problems… Fury blossomed in her stomach and she stood up. “Katie, darling, had you noticed any cameras in the area where they’re keeping Keith?” She asked calmly.

“Um, maybe? Hannah just takes me over to the little area where they keep Keith so he and I can draw together,” She said, shifting in her seat to get up.

“It’s Garrison regulation that there be security cameras everywhere in the facilities, regardless of how confidential the area is. Now, as to whether or not Hannah has turned those cameras off for her own sense of ease, I can’t say for certain. I know that they don’t keep up much with the area, since the superiors don’t think they accomplish much in the way of research developments, so she could have shut them down without fear of verification,” He said as he stood up as well.

Colleen offered a small smirk before picking Katie up carefully and heading to cut through the living room to her office. “Well, even if they’re offline, I can still probably get a connection. And, from there, remotely turn them back on. This is going to be a lovely learning experience for you, Katie,” She mused lightly.

Samuel blinked then followed after them. “Getting an idea of what we’re dealing with?” He asked.

“Indeed. We’re going to get a good feel of the place and get him out immediately,” Colleen said, her tone strong with conviction and fury. He had expected that she’d be furious about the situation but he hadn’t been expecting the pure rage she was exhibiting. Then again, perhaps it was the mother bear in her coming out over the plight of another child.

Once they were in Colleen’s office, she booted everything up and started explaining things step by step for Katie. The young girl settled in her mother’s lap, watching everything with wide eyes and an eager grin. At certain points Colleen even let Katie do things herself, telling her what to do and where. Meanwhile, Samuel shifted uncertainly in his spot, rooted behind the computer chair, skimming through the coded messages between Katie and Keith. He was concerned about what, exactly, Hannah had been doing to this poor young boy. He figured that maybe if he looked through their messages, he could get some additional details on who his family was and how to maybe get in contact with them. As a father himself, he worried about how his parents were doing, not knowing where their child was.

If he was in their position, he’d be losing his mind. He grabbed a few pieces of computer paper from the small tray on Colleen’s desk and started writing out any information that he collected. He glanced over when Katie gasped loudly. “There! That’s the elevator that Hannah takes me down to the lab in!” She said, pointing at the monitor frantically.

He darted over and peered over the back of the chair. “That’s the main corridor that leads back to my office,” He said gently.

Colleen nodded. “I figured if I got into this one, I could jump down from floor to floor until I encounter trouble. From there, it’s just a matter of booting the camera back up and seeing what I can learn,” She said.

Samuel nodded. “If you can, see if you can figure out the code she’s using for the elevator. I’m not sure if my own keycard for the elevator will take me to that area, since I’m not a part of that department currently,” He advised with a small nod before turning his attention back to the notes and information presented.

It only took about another fifteen minutes before Colleen and Katie had the camera closest to the elevator up and running on the research floor, revealing to them a small area with a few desks and a small hallway leading towards some cells. “This is the place!” Katie gasped, pointing towards where the cells were as a few shadows appeared in the corner from another area that they couldn’t see.

After a moment, Dr. Fritz stepped into few, the limp body of a small purple-furred creature tucked under one arm. “That’s Keith!” Katie gasped, pointing to the screen.

Even with the strange positioning from the camera, it was clear the poor thing was unconscious and wheezing like mad. “He might have pneumonia,” Colleen mumbled worriedly, remembering when Matt had caught it when he was much younger. It wasn’t particularly life-threatening with proper treatment, but could be deadly if left unattended. “We need to get him out immediately.” She said, turning to look up at Samuel.

He nodded. “If you can get the elevator code and set up the other cameras on the floor, then you can help keep an eye out for me when I go down. I can take my Bluetooth with me and have you on call, as well, so that we can maintain communication that way,” He said gently.

She nodded and looked down at their daughter, her little face pinched in anger and sadness at the plight of her friend. She carefully pulled her back to herself, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. A quick glance at the clock showed that Katie was pushing at an hour past her usual bed time. “For now, let’s get you to bed. You can help me get things set up for Keith tomorrow, once we get him out of that awful place,” She said quietly.

Katie looked up at her and nodded, though her concern remained etched on her face all throughout getting ready for bed. Colleen gently tucked her in, smoothing her bangs back and kissing her forehead. “Mom?” She asked quietly.

“Yes, darling?”

“Is Keith gonna be okay? He looks really sick,” She mumbled worriedly.

The older woman gently took her daughter’s hands in her own and pressed a small kiss to the top of them. “He will be once we get him here, with us. We’ll make sure he gets plenty of rest, good food, and I know how to help deal with what he’d sick with. He’ll need a bit of time to get better, but he will. I promise you that, Katie,” She said softly, sealing the promise with a small squeeze of her hands.

She received a small smile of relief. “I knew you and Daddy would know what to do,” She said happily before letting out a small yawn.

Her mother smiled and pressed another small kiss to her forehead before carefully slipping out. She made sure that the little owl lamp that worked as her nightlight was on before slipping into the hallway. She sighed and headed up to the attic briefly, rummaging through the boxes to find the old humidifier they used to keep in Matt’s room when he got sick. Since he was older and less prone to fevers and coughs, and Katie had one of her own, they’d packed it away for safe keeping. After finding it, she took it down to the bathroom and made sure it still worked. It took it a second of quiet sputtering to kick into gear, but once it did, it silently pumped out small plumes of warmed mist. “I’ll go get some distilled water for it tomorrow,” She surmised proudly, turning the device and then heading to the spare bedroom at the end of the hallway. She left the device on the small desk there before heading back to her office, Samuel settled in the chair now as he looked through something on her computer. “Find something interesting?” She asked as she approached.

He perked up and looked over at her, nodding briefly before tapping the page of paper underneath him. “I did, actually. I found some basic information about Keith’s father, the human,” He explained, offering it to her.

She took the page and hummed. “Ethan Kogane; potentially firefighter/cop/paramedic; scar cutting through one eyebrow. Not a whole lot we have to go on,” She read aloud, keeping the disappointment from her voice.

“It’s more than I expected him to have to offer, but sadly it’s not particularly concrete. I’ve found about seven people with that name just between Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah. Additionally, Keith doesn’t really mention anything else about where he lives, like cities or towns or anything. It’s somewhere in the desert, but he hasn’t been specific enough about it in any of the messages I’ve been able to decode,” He said with a small sigh, offering the sketchbook and decoding sheet to her.

She pulled up one of the spare chairs they kept in the room and started skimming through herself. She decoded the messages only to find her husband’s assessments to be correct; there was nothing specific mentioned about where he lived. She moved to offer them back to him then paused, stopping to skim back to the start of Keith’s messages regarding his family. “Samuel, did you look at the drawings themselves?” She asked curiously.

“No, not really. It seems like they were mostly just meant to be diversions to keep Hannah from realizing that they were having full conversations,” He said, clearly distracted. It was followed up briefly by the clacking of the computer keys. “Damn! I thought that perhaps I could find them by looking up Keith himself, but there seems to be no records of his birth anywhere. Which, I suppose makes sense, given the fact that his mother is an alien from the farthest reaches of space and he certainly seems to bear a resemblance to her.”

“Samuel, look!” Colleen called, waving one hand and indicating the picture she was looking at with the other. He turned his chair to face her better, eyes widening at the desert view he’d drawn. The steep, rugged plains with the sun dipping behind them were incredibly familiar. “You see what I see, right?”

“Those are undoubtedly the peaks near Red Rock Canyon National Conversation Area. Meaning that they have to live in Nevada,” He breathed in shock before wheeling back around to the computer.

“Does that make sense with what Katie said? About how Hannah said she found Keith?” Colleen asked.

He nodded. “It does. The Montgomery Base isn’t too far off from that canyon and, depending on when it was, I do recall her spending a few days out there to help with some research involving a meteorite they’d found out there recently. It all adds up and makes complete sense,” He said as he clacked away at the computer. There was a small chime and he beamed at the screen, the corners of his lips curling like they always did when he was absolutely delighted. “And, I located our man. Ethan Kogane, age 34, works as a seasonal firefighter. There aren’t any records including practical contact information like an email or phone number, but there is an listing for a P.O. box. Perhaps we could send a letter by mail to them, letting them know how to contact us and see how things go from there?”

“I’ll send the letter out tomorrow afternoon. That’s should work out well, actually; hopefully by the time we hear from them, his health will be improved and figuring out a plan to get him home will be easier,” Colleen said, a smile turning up on her own lips. She leaned closer and pressed a small kiss to her husband’s temple. “I’ll keep Katie home with me tomorrow so we can get things prepared here. I’m sure that once we get in contact with them, they’ll want to be with him again. He’ll need some time to get better before he can travel, so we’ll want to make sure we have room for them here.”

He nodded and took another breath. “Tomorrow is going to be a big day,” He said softly.

“It’s going to be a _good_ day, you mean,” She corrected gently.

He leaned into her and exchanged a small peck. “Yeah, you’re right, that was my bad,”

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Samuel had been careful in how he chose to approach the situation. Colleen discovered that there was a small unloading dock that attached to the research facility that she was able to hack and lift the garage door on. She explained that the elevator was too hard to get into, but she should be able to hack him into the research lab through the back doors a bit more easily. It would also be a stealthier, faster way to get Keith into the van and off the property. She’d also made sure to start recording all the footage she got from the cameras and verified that she’d be able to unlock the cell doors once Samuel was inside.

He took a deep breath as he pulled into the docking bay, making sure to park off to the side where one of the overhead lights was out. He was willing to wager that was Colleen’s doing, too. “Can you hear me okay?” He asked softly as he readjusted the blue tooth piece on his ear. He then paused to stuff the small can of pepper spray he’d grabbed, just a cautionary piece, into the pocket of his uniform slacks.

“Crystal clear, Sam. Just waiting to get a visual on you,” She answered. He turned the car off, slipped out and stepped into the lights and cameras view. “Oh, my, what a _handsome gentleman_! If I wasn’t married, I’d be on that like butter on toast!” She teased.

Sam felt himself flush and chuckle a bit. “I certainly hope you aren’t making those comments with Katie in the room,”

“No, she’s making some last minute adjustments to the spare room we prepared for Keith. She wants to make sure he’ll be as comfortable as possible,” She explained.

He felt his heart warm at how sweet the gesture was of their daughter. He’d never been more proud of the young lady she was growing to become as he was in this instance, in seeing at how clever and careful she’d been about finding a way to help free her new friend. He then took a breath and headed over to the next door as it lifted. “How many doorways are there between here and there?” He asked curiously, setting a brisk pace for himself. He didn’t want to run, out of risk of his footfalls being loud enough to catch anyone else’s attention, but he didn’t want to spend any longer than he had to down there. The sooner he was driving back to the house with Keith safely tucked away in the car, the better.

“About three more before you’ll be in the actual research area; all of which I went ahead and opened up for you, since the coast is clear. You’ll specifically be in the testing area itself, which is just down the hall from the cells. And you’re sure that Hannah won’t be down there?” Colleen asked, a bit of apprehension in her tone.

“She’s in a meeting with the superiors right now. I’d be willing to wager it’s all about Keith and trying to minimize the amount of damage control she’ll have to do for staying quiet about him for so long,” He explained, letting his fingers slip to hang in the pocket with the pepper spray can.

“I’ll keep an eye out for her on the upper levels, then. If I see her coming, I’ll kill the power to the elevator so you have the chance to get out,” She said calmly.

“You managed to gain that much control of the place?” He asked.

“Well, I ended up doing it while I was trying to pull the code her card provided that granted her access to this floor. Not what I was looking for, but I’ll take whatever happy accidents I stumble across,” She mused. He smiled and nodded. That Lemons-to-Lemonade attitude of hers had been part of what had drawn him to her all those years ago, when they were both still just cadets.

He perked up at the high-pitched sound of what he knew could only be a child screaming coming just a bit ahead, around the upcoming corner. He surged forward, muttering a small swear under his breath. “Collie, can you get a visual?” He asked.

“Give me two seconds,” She said as he neared the corner. There was a moment and then a horrified gasp. “ _Oh, my God_!”

Samuel rounded the corner and froze just in front of the glass leading into the research room, a part of him screaming to turn away but too horrified to do it. He could see Keith trying to thrash against the table he was strapped to as his body convulsed, small sparks visible even from where he was. One edge of his shirt had been pushed up and there were clear sear marks just above his right hip, a mix of letters and numbers paired with a barcode.

Samuel recognized it well as the code used for test subjects they intended to use for dissection.

He slammed his hands against the glass as hard as he could before darting over to the door. He saw the figure in the room flinch but he paid them no mind, slamming his fist against the door itself when it refused to open. “Let me in this instance! I am pulling rank!” He bellowed, all his rage coming out. He’d been planning to approach the situation much calmer than this, but he simply couldn’t.

The door opened after a second and, upon walking in, he was greeted by the twitching form of Andrew Dickens. He remembered the younger man as being a smart, if not anxious, fellow with a lot of interesting ideas but no confidence in them. “C-Commander Holt, what are you doing down here?” He stammered out, his fingers fiddling with the slim steel tool in his hands.

Sam knew it was the branding tool without needing to even do a double take. “What in the world is going on down here?” He growled, shoving past the subordinate to approach Keith.

The poor little guy’s eyes were screwed shut, fat tears slowly making their way down his face. His breathing was absolutely erratic. But he wasn’t sure if it was because of what he’d just endured, his potential pneumonia, or a combination of both. Around his neck was a slim collar with bloody marks all along the top and sides of it, seeming to be somewhat fresher marks, which spanned from both ends of the collar to just below his chin and above his collarbone respectively. The smell of burning flesh and hair came from the vicinity of it. A quick glance down showed bits of his own skin and fur and blood underneath his long fingernails.

Clearly Keith’s attempts to pry the shock collar off, even at the cost of potentially injuring himself.

He wasted no time in turning to face the other, who was hanging back uneasily. Andy had put the branding tool down on the table, beside a small collection of other medical supplies. “Take that collar off of him _this instance_. He’s coming with me,” Samuel growled lowly.

Andy visibly flinched and shook his head. “N-No, Commander Holt, you don’t understand! You can’t _just take_ our research subject!” He sputtered.

“ _I damn well can and will_! I am pulling rank on you, as you clearly have no ability to discern when enough is enough on your own! This poor child is not something for you to be torturing like this! He poses a threat to _absolutely no one_!” He snapped, indicating Keith with one hand.

“You can’t say that for certain! Dr. Fritz believes that-!”

“I don’t give a _damn_ what Hannah _thinks_ he is capable! Her own desire for commendation has _clearly_ blinded her to the _absolutely repugnant way she is treating this child_! The Garrison would _never_ approve of her _taking to this_ _child_ – because apparently the pair of you don’t understand that aspect of this – like a _grade schooler standing over an ant hill with a magnifying glass_!” He yelled, causing not only Andy to flinch back but also a small, startled cry to come from the small child in question. He turned around and looked at the other, expression softening at the golden slivers watching him fearfully. “Just… Get me the key to unlock him, Andrew. That’s an order.” He said with a shake of his head, moving to set his hand atop Keith’s slowly.

Even with his movements being slow and gentle, he tried to shrink away. His heart broke for the child before him.

He heard a quiet shuffling behind him, turning just in time to narrowly stumble back as Andrew swiped at him with a large syringe. “Andrew, what the _Hell_ are you doing?”

“ _You don’t understand_ , Commander Holt! This job – _this chance_ – this is _all I have_! Dr. Fritz promised me that she’ll have me _promoted_ for my help with this!” He choked out, his eyes wild and tears in the corners of them. He looked a strange mix of hysterically delirious and mortified. “I-I’ve been her- her! Her glorified _office bitch_ for _three miserable years_! Do you have _any idea_ what it’s like? Working under a woman like her? Always being told to just shut up and do what you’re told, to just be a good little cog in her ego machine? To _never once_ have your ideas given the time of day? I could be out from under her thumb! I’d have the clout to propose all the ideas I’ve wanted to!”

Samuel held one hand up as he took another step back. “This isn’t how you’re going to get that, Andrew, and we both know it. Do you really think she’d let an assistant as obedient as you just leave her side? She’ll find any excuse she can think of to keep you by her side, where you’re of the most use to her,” He said, keeping his voice calm and collected. His other hand slowly crept into his pocket, fingers brushing against the pepper spray can.

“You’re _lying_! She promised me that I could have what I wanted! She smiled at me and told me that she was going to reward me for how hard I’ve been working! All I have to do was get the autopsy started! She’s going to bring the other Commanders and Admirals down here so that we can show them that we did find an alien!” He insisted.

“And, what then, if you kill me? How will you explain a dead body to them?” He said gently.

The other glanced down at the syringe in his hands, twisting it a bit, before lifting his head again, his dark eyes shining. “I’ll just tell them that you attacked me, wanting to steal the glory for yourself. It won’t be hard to do,” He said with quiet conviction.

“It will when they try to collect the camera feed to corroborate your story,” Samuel said, indicating the camera just outside the room, “and find no record for the last few months. And even more so when my sources go live to the public with the footage of what actually happened.”

Andrew’s shoulders slumped and he let out a weak laugh. “W-What?” He croaked.

“I’ve got sources that have hacked into the cameras and are recording everything as we speak. They’ll see that you armed yourself with a deadly weapon and charged at me like a man possessed. And, even better, the public will know that the Garrison lied about life on other planets. The Garrison will have to do something to appease the public or risk a full-scale investigation by other governmental bodies. And what better way than to offer the two lead researchers for the project up as sacrificial lambs to the slaughter?”

Slowly Andrew’s eyes widened, his heart clearly breaking and the horror of it settling in for him. It hurt Samuel to do it but he knew it was the only way. He started to lower his hand when a loud, enraged howl came from Andrew and he lunged at him again.

Samuel skidded back again, nearly toppling over another medical tray, and unleashed the pepper spray, managing to catch the other man in one eye. When Andrew shifted, moving to retreat, he charged forward himself, blasting even more of the potent spray into both his eyes, draining the can to near half before he stopped and stepped back. He stared at the crumpled, wailing and retching mess of a man at his feet, and sighed. “I wish it didn’t have to be this way, Andrew,” He said quietly, pocketing the spray again and kneeling.

There was a small silver ring clipped to the other’s pants, which he took, and then he grabbed the syringe as well. He walked over to a small sink in the corner and dumped the chemical down the drain. He wasn’t sure what was inside, but he was certain that it wasn’t good. “You’ll want to be fast, honey. It looks like the meeting just let out and they’ll be heading down any second now,” Colleen said, her voice quiet and a bit rattled.

Samuel jumped for a moment, almost forgetting that he still had her on his Bluetooth, then sighed. “Think you can stall the elevator just until we get to the car?” He asked.

“I can probably get you covered until you’re actually out of the area. But you’ll want to be fast, more for Hannah’s assistant’s sake. I don’t know how long that pepper spray will work for, or if he’ll need medical treatment with how much you hit him with,” She said.

“Better safe than sorry, I figured,” He said, reaching up into one of the upper cabinets above the sink and setting the syringe there.

“We’ll be having words about that brazen little gambit of yours when you get home, by the way,” She warned.

He smiled and nodded. “I had expected as much,” He said then turned and headed back to the table, where Keith was still whimpering and watching through cracked eyes. He shuffled through the keys until he found the small, stout silver key of the collar.

As he removed it, the young man’s ears flattened to his skull and he flinched back, expecting another jolt or blow, he was sure. Instead, all that greeted him was the small sound of a click and then the weight of the collar being removed. He slowly opened his eyes a bit more and looked at the older man above him, who was offering him a small smile. He blinked twice, just to be sure. “You look like Katie,” He said, voice raspy and broken from disuse and all the torment he’d been subjected to that night.

Samuel blinked then smiled a bit wider, nodding his head as he shifted through the keys to find the one that would unlatch the bonds on his hands and feet. “That’s because I’m Katie’s Dad. You can call me Sam. It’s nice to get to meet you, Keith,” He said, forcing some warmth into his tone. He was sure the poor child hadn’t had an adult speak to him kindly in months now.

“She told you about me?”

“She did. She told us how Dr. Fritz and Andrew were doing bad things and hurting you. So we decided that we’d come pick you up, take you back to our house for a bit, and then see about getting you back to your Mom and Dad,” He explained, finally clicking the last lock and loosening the leather binds enough for Keith to slip his limbs free. His movements were shaky and unsure, struggling to get them to do what he wanted them to. Once his limbs were free, Samuel reached over and carefully picked him up, settling him on his hip to avoid irritating his new branding mark. Keith shifted and slumped into him, either from feeling safe or feeling exhausted, Samuel couldn’t say for certain.

He chose not to comment or ask about it and instead started on the trek back to the car. He maintained the same pace he’d had on his way in, mostly because he feared moving too fast would only exasperate Keith’s injuries. He wasn’t sure about what kind of shape he was in, but he certainly didn’t want to do anymore damage. In the van, he had set up a pillow and blanket for him in the back seat. It wasn’t the most comfortable situation, but he figured it’d do a good enough job until they could get him home.

The poor boy fell asleep before Samuel had even finished backing out to turn around in the loading dock. “He’s going to need a bath for sure. We need to get a better idea of what his injuries look like,” He said softly.

“I made sure to pick up some extra things and fresh supplies today while Katie and I were out. I also got him a few fresh sets of clothes and pajamas, just so that he’d have some variety of what he can wear while he’s here,” Colleen said, the distinct sound of Katie calling from the doorway heard in the background.

“That’s great. I’ll be home in just a it, so be on standby, okay?” He asked.

“Of course. I love you,”

“I love you too,” He said softly before ending the call and removing his headset. There were still a lot of things to do to cover their tracks, but the worst of it was over. He glanced back at the snoozing alien child in his back seat and felt himself smile again, glad to know that he’d be in a safe place while he recovered. The rest of the drive home was silent, just the sounds of Keith’s soft and frequent breathing and the low din of the radio through the speakers. Even calmed down, his breathing seemed to be a bit too labored, and he suspected he really did have pneumonia.

When he got home, Colleen and Katie were right there as he pulled up. Katie darted over as he opened his door. “Daddy! Did you get him? Is he okay?” She asked frantically.

He offered her a small smile and opened the back door. “He’s going to be okay, sweetie,” He said gently.

In a flash, Katie scrambled into the car and scooted over to where Keith’s head was resting against the pillow. Slowly, she reached out and pushed his bangs up and out of his face, yanking her hand back almost immediately. He screwed up his face and slowly pried his eyes open, taking in his surrounding with a groggy gloss over his eyes. He then slowly lifted his head and looked at her. “Katie?” He grumbled, voice sounding confused and a bit skeptical.

She beamed at him and nodded. “Yup, it’s me! I told you I was going to find a way to help you and we did!” She beamed.

He blinked again slowly before offering her a small smile. “Thank you,” He said quietly.

Colleen reached over and gently picked Katie up, setting her back down in the garage. “Katie, can you go pick out some pajamas and a towel for Keith while I get him in the bath?” She asked, reaching in and carefully taking him out.

He seemed a bit more alert than he had at the research lab, lifting his head a bit to look around, making Samuel wonder if they’d been keeping him additionally doped up. Katie nodded at her and then scampered off, calling over her shoulder, “I’ll be right back, Keith!”

“Are you feeling hungry at all, Keith?” Samuel asked gently.

The child looked over as quick as he could, eyes widening a bit more, and he nodded so frantically he almost seemed to make himself dizzy. “There now, darling, don’t overdo it,” Colleen crooned, carefully moving Keith to rest his head against her shoulder. He shifted and leaned into her, letting his eyes slide close again. “I picked up some whole wheat pasta and things at the store today. If it’s pneumonia, those foods will be best for him.”

“I’ll get started on that, then, while you get him cleaned up,” He said gently before heading off.

The bath ended up being a bit more difficult than they’d thought. While Colleen had made sure to keep the temperature a bit lower than usual, it still had enough heat to it that the burn marks along his tail and hips and a few she found on his back all started to kick up and he was in tears over the pain. She hated having to make him stay in the water when he was so distraught, but she had to get him clean and apply all the ointments she’d gotten for him. Thankfully enough, he seemed to recognize that she derived no pleasure from this either, and listened despite his discomfort.

It helped that Katie stayed close by, kneeling next to her Mom beside the tub and helping to distract him with some bath toys.

Once he was cleaned up and the ointments had all dried, Colleen helped get him into the dinosaur-themed pajamas Katie had picked out. She’d gone ahead and adjusted the seams on his underwear and pants for account for his tail and was rather proud that the slits were perfectly placed. Then, they got him settled in the guest bed while he ate. He scarfed down three bowls and two glasses of water and still seemed hungry after that. They only told him no because, if he overate too much, he’d get incredibly sick and it’d only make things worse for him. Colleen turned on the humidifier for him and sat by his bedside singing him to sleep with the same songs she did for Matt and Katie when they had bad dreams while Sam put Katie to bed. It took five full songs and the first half of _While My Guitar Gently Weeps_ , but finally his breathing levelled out and he dozed off. She smiled, making sure that he was tucked in carefully, before she slipped out.

Not too long after she left, though, Katie crept in, a plush toy tucked under her arm. She carefully climbed up and under the covers with Keith, nestling in beside him. He briefly cracked on eye at her and made a small, sleepy noise of confusion. “I convinced Mom to let us get this for you,” She said quietly, presenting the doll to him.

It was a fluffy, grey plush hippo.

He carefully reached out and took it, snuggling up to it eagerly. “Thank you,” He mumbled softly, peeking up at her. The spark of mirth she’d seen in the first few days of their messages had returned and she felt her heart soar.

“You’re welcome. What are you gonna name them?” She asked curiously, shifting a bit to rest her head more comfortably on the pillow.

“I’m gonna name him… Humphrey,” He said with a decisive nod.

She snorted a little bit. “I like it. He looks like a Humphrey,” She agreed happily before yawning. She then nuzzled into the pillow again. “Let’s get some sleep. We can talk more tomorrow.” She didn’t see how Keith smiled and shifted closer, moving one of his hands to gently lace with hers.

Neither of the Holts were surprised to see the two cuddled up together in the morning light.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The morning light seeped in through the window of their bedroom, but it didn’t fill either of them with the warmth it should have.

He slowly pushed up from the bed and sat on the edge, rubbing his hands over his face. He’d need to shave soon with how rough his face was starting to get. Then again, it would mean having to look at the little toy razor and face cream beside his own. The hole in his heart throbbed and pulsed, like an infected and pulsing wound. “I’m gonna go into town and get breakfast. Maybe later we can go grocery shopping together. Getting out of the house might be good,” He said aloud, glancing over his shoulder at the other figure on the bed.

Rather than answer him with words, the blankets shifted and she curled further into herself.

With a small sigh, he stood up and walked through the motions of his morning routine, as best as he could. Normally there would be a small, whiny child following after him step by step, complaining about wanting breakfast or wanting to do something fun with him. He’d normally laugh, ruffle the child’s dark locks, and fondly say, “Just a minute, Keith.”

But Keith wasn’t there. Keith hadn’t been there in nearly three months.

His heart ached at not knowing what had become of their son. It had been a stupid argument that led to him running off before either of his parents could stop him, about how Keith wanted to go into one of the bigger cities nearby and do something really fun. While they had their cloaking devices, which would mask their Galran appearances into something human, Krolia was highly uncomfortable with the bigger, crowded cities on Earth. They’d tried to go a handful of time before Keith was born, as well as after he was born, but it was always clear that Krolia was on high alert and couldn’t enjoy a single thing.

If they had it to do over, they’d both agree to anything to have him there with them.

As the weeks progressed, he tried to maintain hope. He insisted that surely Keith had to be okay, that someone must have found him and he was okay. Krolia had significantly less faith than he did on that front, insisting that he was dead and they hadn’t found his body yet, or that he was basically dead wherever he’d been taken to. “There is a Garrison base just a rocks throw away, Ethan! Do you really think if he was alive and found they wouldn’t have taken him there for an autopsy?” She had screamed at him just the night before.

After that, they’d sat together and cried for a long time before going to bed.

On his way to his bike, he paused to stare at the Blade cruiser that had brought Krolia and Keith back to him at the start of the summer. They’d used it a handful of times to try and track him down, but to no avail. The communications setup in it was going to need to be repaired soon, though. It had been nearly a week since the last time she’d reached out to her superiors for an update on her situation.

He wasn’t privy to the specifics of the conversation, but he knew that she’d informed Kolivan that she would be staying on Earth until she knew what had become of her son. Apparently Kolivan had some opinions about that. Ones that Krolia hadn’t cared much for, to put it lightly.

She’d torn the communication console out of the cruiser in her fit of rage and had refused to put it back in until she was less angry about everything.

The drive to town was only about twenty minutes, which wasn’t too bad, considering they lived in the middle of the desert. He decided to stop by the small post office first and see if there’d been any mail for him. The bills would have started trickling in at that point, and he’d rather band-aid them so he could focus on his search for Keith again. He pulled out his key and popped it open, fishing the small stack out and heading back to his bike.

He headed to the McDonald’s right on the edge of town, placed his order to-go, then settled down at a small table while he waited, skimming through the envelopes. Offer for a new and improved credit card; a tasty snack for the paper shredder. The electric bill; probably higher than usual, just like the last two months before, since they’d been leaving the house lights on at night. Just in case Keith stumbled back into their area. Water bill; coasting at about the same as it usually did, which would be easy enough to deal with. Another credit card offer; more food for shredder. His fingers paused on the last item, preparing to toss it in the junk pile, then paused.

The script on the front wasn’t one that he recognized, though it was certainly pretty. What caught him more off guard was that it was specifically addressed to him, and had a Spiderman stamp on it. He couldn’t think of a single person he knew that would be sending him a letter with that kind of stamp. He stole a glance at the name and scowled a bit more. He didn’t know anyone by the name of Colleen Holt. Perhaps a relative of someone he’d saved on the job?

He pried the letter open and started skimming through just as his order was called. He stuffed the letter into his pocket, grabbing the rest of his things hurriedly and darting out. He fished the letter back out after store the food and mail in the seat box of his bike, reading it over and over as tears started to fill his eyes.

He had to show this to Krolia.


	3. Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the news of their son being found and alive, a mix of apprehension and hope floods the Kogane parents. Suspicion is high for them, but so is the desperate need to have Keith back in their arms. While Keith recovers, though, there is further concern on the horizon from his previous "care takers".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cautionary Warning: Mentions of Torture/Experimentation, Mentions of Sexual Assault/Government Cover-Up (Does Not Involve any Minor Characters)

Part Three

 

_Greetings, Kogane Parents_

_This is a bit uncouth and bizarre, to say the least, but I felt it imperative to reach out given the circumstances currently laid before us. My name is Colleen Holt and my family has recently come into care of your son, Keith. The full details are long and complicated, so I will not go into them here. I can assure that he is safe and being well-cared for. He has been through a lot but is clearly a very strong young man. We are working to nurse him back to health, but wanted to open the channel of communication with you as soon as possible. He is desperate to see the two of you again. As a mother of two, I cannot imagine how hard the last few weeks have been for the two of you. My husband, Samuel, and I would like nothing more than to bring you and your son back together. I have included in this letter our home address – so as to provide further evidence that we are sincere in whom we are and our intentions – as well as both our emails, our cell phone numbers and the number for the landline phone in our home. Please reach out to us however you are most comfortable with. We want nothing more than to reunite you with Keith._

_Sincerely,_

_The Holt Family_

“It could be a trap,” Krolia said after her third time reading the letter telling them that their son had been found, a little worse for wear but alive in a safe place, and that they’d like to arrange returning him to his family. She set the note on the table and crossed her arms over her chest, leaning back against the wall nearest her and regarding him far too calmly.

Ethan stared at her as if she’d just struck him. “They have _our son_! Keith could come home if we reach out to them!”

She sighed and the hand on her upper arm tightened slightly. “And what if this is all a rouse? What if the Garrison, or some other governmental body on Earth, found him, gained this intelligence from him, and this is their way of trying to trap us?”

“You can’t honestly think that this could be fabricated… This letter came from _Arizona_! It has an address for an actual house!”

Krolia glared at him. “Oh, so you mean to tell me your government couldn’t easily fabricate such information?”

He picked the letter back off the table and stared at it. “They could, but… I don’t think that’s the case. I just have a feeling that this letter is sincere, that the intentions of the person who wrote it are sincere,” He said quietly, his eyes locked on the final line of the letter. _We want nothing more than to reunite you with Keith._ “I believe them. I believe they have him and they want to bring him back to us.” He lifted his head to stare at her, steeling his resolve. He would go to these people and get their son back, with or without Krolia’s help.

She held his gaze before her figure slumped. “How are we supposed to proceed, then? How should we reach out to them and validate what they’re telling us?” She asked. His gaze softened a bit at how tired and heartbroken she looked. He understood that her hesitation was a fearful reaction. She was afraid to get her hopes up if it turned out his gut instinct was wrong on this. She didn’t want to believe wholeheartedly that their son would be with them soon without knowing it was a fact.

“They said we can reach out to them however we feel most comfortable with. We can send a letter in return, see if we can’t get more information from them about the situation to confirm what they’re saying. Maybe ask them to have Keith write a letter for us, too? We know what his hand writing looks like. Plus, there’s that little trick we figured out with him in case of an emergency situation, too. It’d be the best proof that we can open up further to them that we can get,” He suggested, holding one of his arms out to her.

“I suppose so,” She said quietly, slowly pushing off the wall and crossing the short distance to him. He settled one hand on her hip and gently tugged her until she was beside him on the couch. She moved and wrapped her arms around him, letting his tuck her head under his chin and stroking her back. She snaked her arms around his chest and tilted her head a bit, closing her eyes as she rested her forehead against his neck. “I miss him so much, Ethan.”

“I do too, Krolia. But I think that our nightmare will be over soon,” He mumbled into the tangled nest of her hair. She’d barely gotten out of the shower when he came bustling into the house with the letter and her hair always tended to go wild when drying was left to the humid Nevada air. “I’ll get the letter written and sent out today. It’s been long enough that he hasn’t been home.”

She nodded. “If they’re being honest… If they really do have Keith and they do reunite us with him… I’m not sure if I want to hug him or scold him for running off,” She said with a small hiccupping laugh.

“Maybe meet in the middle? Hug him and then ground him?” He said with a small chuckle, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. It was just a small spark right now, but the light of hope was warming him back up. He was certain that they’d get to see their son again very soon.

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The interrogation room was chilly, even with the long-sleeved uniform closed up tight around them. Dr. Fritz had her hands calmly folded before her, settled atop the small clipboard and forms set before her. She was certain they had Andy in one of the other rooms, most likely pissing himself as he scrambled to provide a viable lie or earnest explain what had happened. Either option, he would trip around his words worse than a thirty-year drunkard. He was effectively useless to her at this point. She’d simply have to hope that whichever of her superiors walked through that door, it would be one she could easily manipulate to her benefit.

The door chimed lightly, showing it had been unlocked, and was carefully pushed open to reveal Admiral Sanda and Admiral Walker. She couldn’t hide the smile that turned up on her lips as the two older women calmly stepped inside and approached the desk. Admiral Walker settled into the seat across from her, crossing one leg over the other and watching her with calm, hazel eyes. Admiral Sanda stood behind her, arms crossed behind her back. Fate had played into her hands quite nicely. “Valerie, Angela, how kind of you to step in to talk with me!” She said, her tone chipper and pleasant and positively false.

Sanda pinned her with a glare, gray eyes steely on her. “I am _Admiral Sanda_ and _she_ is _Admiral Walker_ to insubordinate types _such as you_ ,” She growled quietly, enunciating each of the last three words.

Dr. Fritz blinked then plastered on a small pout. “So callous, Admiral Sanda. Derek told me I was simply being brought here to have a little talk. Then again, it’s been at least a few days since we were placed under restrictive watch on base, but he still seemed rather calm about the whole thing,” She said.

“ _Commander Sampson_ has a bad habit of sugar-coating bad news for _your kind_. He’s too soft, honestly. It’s part of the reason we end up in situations,” She snapped, her volume lowering just the slightest bit, “ _just like this_. With individuals _just like you_.”

“Is that so?” Dr. Fritz asked, glancing briefly over at Admiral Walker. She had pulled a small cloth and started to clean her glasses, seeming uninterested in the bickering between the others.

“You run the risk of besmirching the Galaxy Garrison’s public reputation with your actions! We have a binding, strict agreement regarding the use of cameras in our facilities for a reason!” Sanda snapped, moving as if to cross the table and go at her.

“Admiral Sanda, settle down. No need to let someone like her ruffle your feathers,” Admiral Walker chided calmly, her voice seeming to be enough to halt the other mid-step. She then glanced down at the small stack of papers under the other’s hands. “I see you refuse to sign the documents we’ve given you.”

“But of course. I’m not going to sign away my career just because what I’ve done _might_ reflect badly on the rest of you,” She scoffed, leaning back in her own seat, anger starting to bubble up inside of her. Was turning the cameras off really such a pressing matter? Considering that she’d found proof of other intelligent life in the galaxy and it was now missing, she thought that would be more concerning. This wasn’t a wacky rom-com about an alien befriending humans and learning what, exactly, it meant to be human; this was real life.

Just because her test subject had seemed like a harmless juvenile, the fact it was around meant there had to be at least one more lurking around the planet somewhere.

“I am one of your most accomplished researchers; _an asset_! I’ve busted my tail and worked every day to boost the way the research done by the Garrison is viewed by the public! I’ve proven my intelligence and worth time and again! My title as one of the superior’s in my department should be proof enough of that,” Fritz huffed.

Walker let out a sharp bark of laughter. “You traded your silence about Doug’s wandering hands for that position. You didn’t earn a damn thing since you’ve been here,”

Fritz stared at them with wide eyes, letting out a small wheeze as if she’d been punched. Admiral Sanda looked stunned by the other’s words but made no move to disagree or correct her. Fritz took in a deep breath to calm herself, reminding herself to keep her emotions more tightly wound in. She knew that this was how things were around the Garrison. She’d known it for years. There were women like Sanda – or, rather, who Sanda used to be, back when she was still just a Commander and a Professor on base – who knew of the darker deals and only bowed their heads and pretended not to know. And then there were women like Admiral Walker who knew how to twist the tragedies around to work on their favor.

Unfortunately for them, but of benefit to her, she was just as manipulative as they were. “That would still be an unfortunate bit of news to get out now, you know. It would surely break Mrs. Hammond’s heart to know her husband is actually a revolting monster who preys upon those beneath him,” She said, lips turning up in a small smile. Her grin became slightly more sinister as she leaned back in her seat. “Just the speculation of it would be enough to cast a huge storm to brew for the Garrison. The public would be outraged, your superiors would start looking for bodies to mount the proverbial bus up on, and I’m sure any other young cadets he targeted would be inclined to come forward and share their stories, too. It would be rather… Unpleasant, to say the least.”

Sanda looked stunned at her comment before frowning and looking over to Walker. Walker’s face was the picture of ambivalence, a perfect poker face that betrayed nothing. “What do you have to offer us, at this point? You can threaten us with blackmail all you’d like, but unless you can give us an outside party that can confirm your story about the subject you’ve misplaced, the higher ups won’t be very interested in hearing it,” She pointed out.

“Samuel Holt’s daughter, Katie Holt, has been shadowing me and interacting the subject for over a month now. Her sketchbook will be loaded with pictures drawn by both she and the test subject,” She said quickly. The two Admirals’ exchanged looks, hinting at something else, filling her with smug sense of pride. Andy had sworn to her that it had been Samuel Holt that came to break the alien free, but she hadn’t gotten the full story from him before they’d been locked up to await further investigation.

Admiral Walker folded her arms over her chest and examined her expectantly. “We’re listening,”

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Colleen jumped slightly in surprise at a loud clatter at the top of the stairs as she walked back inside from collecting the mail. “What was that?” She called up.

“Nothing, Mom!” Katie called back, but it was followed up with hushed and frantic whispers.

“Whatever it is, clean it up and then come on down! It’s about time for lunch!” She said with a small shake of her head, but a smile still graced her lips. She was half way to the kitchen when both Keith and Pidge came tearing past her to the kitchen table. She chuckled a bit, glad to see the two of them full of energy as they clamored to the kitchen table, little Bae Bae just a few paces behind them with a tennis ball in his maw. Ah, that probably had something to do with the sound she’d heard earlier. “Any requests?” She asked as she set the mail on the counter by the sink and headed into the kitchen.

“Can we have grilled cheese sandwiches, please?” Keith asked excitedly as he hoisted himself up and into a chair.

“Please, Momma?” Katie added as she settled in as well. Bae Bae dropped the ball beside her seat, earning a quick pat to the head from both she and Keith, then flopped over on his side to relax against the cool tile. The two young kids had been keeping him well-exercised over that last few days, after all.

“I think I can arrange that,” She giggled before rummaging through the pantries for the pan she’d need. As she gathered the few ingredients she’d need, she couldn’t help but smile at the excited cheers of the two grade schoolers at the table.

It had been a full two weeks since they’d rescued Keith from the Garrison base and he was healing up quite nicely, much to the Holt’s relief.  While the humidifier and diet they placed him on did help with some of his health concerns, after two days it became apparent that he’d need more than just that to get over the pneumonia. He’d had it for a good while and hadn’t received any treatment for it, after all. They couldn’t take him to a doctor because of how very un-human-like he looked, and she still hadn’t heard anything from his parents at that point. So, despite being a bit uncomfortable with it but knowing that it was for a good reason, Colleen had gone ahead and fabricated a prescription for the medicines that he would need.

After that, it just became a test of how much of the medicine he should actually take. Clearly humans and Galra, as she recalled his mother’s species was called, were of similar enough physiology to produce viable offspring. It then became a question of how far those similarities ran and if there were things that, while helpful to humans, would be harmful to a Galra. They’d done a bit of trial and error but, ultimately, she found that Keith could take the full dosage necessary for the prescription without any adverse side effects.

His appetite rose, his cough cleared up, and he’d been well enough to get out of bed and play in the house with Katie for the last three days. She’d stopped giving him the medicine starting the prior day and, thankfully, it seemed that he was back in as tip-top shape as he was going to get. Most of the wounds that he’d gotten from the experimentation had cleared up, though there were going to be some scars from the collar on his neck, as well as the branding mark on his hip and a decent amount of the burns on his back. The fur along his tail, where the other burns had been, was starting to grow back at a decent enough rate, though it did seem to irritate him just a bit. She’d applied a bit of diluted calamine lotion over it to help soothe some of the ache, which seemed to work surprisingly well.

Additionally, being able to play and explore seemed to help him perk up and show off a bit more of his personality. He seemed to naturally be a bit more of a reserved sort than Katie, who could talk for hours and a mile a minute, but he was a sweet and energetic kid. He always minded his manners and seemed content sometimes to just stretch out across the floor while Katie prattled on about the complicated origins of this or that stuffed animal of hers. When the sun went down, Colleen and Samuel would let the kids play on the little activity center in the backyard, the two of them watching from the lounge area on their patio. He loved going as high up as he could in the swing and then leaping off, landing on his feet in a very cat-like position, eyes shining with life and giddiness. There was a bit of comfort in seeing him feel well enough to behave and act like a child his age should.

Though that didn’t mean that there wasn’t still trauma he’d have to deal with.

In the last two weeks, there’d only been three times where he slept through the night and didn’t wake up screaming from a nightmare. Each time he woke up, Colleen or Samuel would go to check on him, Katie still staying in the room with him and already trying to help calm him down. They both noticed that he seemed to relax most when he was gently cradled and spoken or sung to in a soft voice. The nightmares were more of the awful things that he’d been subjected to. What little he’d told them had left both of the Holt’s furious and desperate to help him. Just the night before, he’d looked up at Colleen with wide and teary eyes to say, “I thought I was never gonna get away from that bad place.”

The fact that he’d been anticipating death had horrified Colleen, and she’d found herself unable to go back to bed. She’d ended up falling asleep in the guest room, cradling both Keith and Katie as close to her as she could get.

“How many sandwiches would you each like?” She called as she placed the first sandwich in the pan and grabbed two paper plates from the top of the fridge.

“Two, please,” Keith said.

“Yeah, two for me, too!” Katie agreed. She then turned to Keith with a big grin. “Mommy makes the best, most cheesiest grilled cheese in the world!”

He smiled back and nodded. “My Mom makes really good s’mores. She knows how to get the marshmallow crispy and gooey without burning it!” He said happily before his ears flickered down just a bit, his smile starting to droop. “I really miss her and my Dad.”

“We’ll hear from them soon, I’m sure! The mail man around here is kinda old and slow,” Katie said quickly, reaching over and giving his head a reassuring pat.

Colleen smiled a bit at her daughter’s reassurance but frowned worriedly. She had been planning to write up a second letter that afternoon, just in case her initial letter got lost in the mail. It had been two weeks and, while she was more than happy to look after Keith, she couldn’t help but long to reunite him with his parents. If she was in his mother’s position, she wouldn’t be able to do anything until she had her precious babies back in her arms. She just wanted to be able to look the other woman in the eye and tell her that the nightmare was over, that her son was safe and back where he belonged.

Once the sandwiches were ready, she cut them into halves, grabbed them each a few napkins, and set the plates in front of them at the table. “Thank you!” They both said in excited unison. She smiled and headed back into the kitchen, grabbing two juice pouches from the fridge and then grabbing two small bags of barbeque chips from the cabinet. She gave them each one, then grabbed the mail she’d abandoned from the counter, and started to separate them based on what they were. She was expecting a letter from the school board of which vaccinations Katie and Matt were going to need before they went back to school in a few weeks.

She let out a quiet gasp as she plucked out a simple letter with the same address as the P.O. Box they’d located for the Kogane’s. Katie perked up from around a mouthful of sandwich. “Wazzit, Mu-mu?” She asked.

“Katie, don’t talk with your mouth full, please,” She chided lightly, briefly glancing up at her before looking back down. The letter was very simplistic, similar to the one that she had initially sent herself. The writing on the front was a bit blockier than her own, though, but she felt that it spoke more to the type of person that had sent it. She couldn’t help but chuckle a bit at the cartoon-ish Dalmatian stamp in the corner. It felt the slightest bit weighted, as if there was something aside from the letter inside as well. She shifted into the vacant seat beside Keith, who looked up at her curiously as he swallowed his latest bite. “Keith, sweetie, does this handwriting look familiar?” She asked, shifting the letter so that he could see it.

He looked from her to the letter. She felt herself unable to fight back a smile at how his eyes widened in excitement. “That’s my Daddy’s handwriting!” He said quickly, before pointing at the stamp. “And those are the stamps we got! I picked them because there’s a big Dalmatian puppy dog at the fire station he works at!”

“I thought so,” She mused happily before moving the letter back to herself and carefully opening it. Both children were watching her with large, wonder-filled eyes. “I’ll read this out loud while you two finish up your lunch, okay?” Both children took large bites from their sandwiches and stared at her as they chewed, earning a small laugh from her as she unfolded the letter inside.

_Hello, Holt Family,_

_Thank you so very much for sending your letter. Every day, we’ve been frantic and sick with worry over where Keith could be. To know that he could be somewhere that is safe, and with people that are taking his best interests to heart, is a huge relief. I can never truly express my gratitude to you for this. While I trust you when you say you have him with you, there are concerns that arise, given the situation between my wife, Keith and I. As such, I do have a request before we reach out through more modern, streamlined forms of communication._

_As I’m sure you’re aware, our son is an incredibly unique kid. He’s our one-in-a-million shooting star, to say the least. With this fact in mind, however, we do need to request some kind of proof that you are sincere in your intentions and claims. We would greatly appreciate a letter response with something written for us by Keith included, as well as perhaps a picture of your family with him. I have included inside something of his to reassure him that we’re here for him._

_I apologize if this seems a bit strange. We want nothing more than to have our son back with us, but we also know how certain groups would react to someone as special as him. We will be waiting with bated breath for your response to discuss picking our son up._

_Best Regards,_

_The Kogane Clan_

Colleen reached into the envelope to find a small, plastic badge inside. “My Sheriff’s badge!” Keith said eagerly. She smiled and handed it over, watching as he took the item and fiddled with it carefully, his little eyes seeming to tear up a bit. “They want me to come home.”

“Of course they would, darling; you’re their whole world,” Colleen said soothingly, reaching over and gently pushing his bangs out of his face.

He smiled widely at her. “Can we send the letter today?”

“Well, we have to wait until Sam gets home to take the picture, since they want the whole family together,” She said thoughtfully, “but we can get the letters written and prepared tonight. Then, tomorrow, I can send them at the post office. And I’ll have a special stamp put on it, so that it gets to your parent’s super-fast.” His eyes lit up at that and he nodded. Katie, having already finished off her sandwich, shimmied her seat back and scrambled down.

“I’ll go get some paper and my markers! I’ll be right back!” She announced before darting off, little Bae Bae waking up from the commotion and tearing off after her.

Keith watched them go then looked back up at Colleen, his eyes bright with joyful, unshed tears. “Miss Collie?” He asked softly. She smiled and nodded. Keith wasn’t completely comfortable with calling she or Sam by only their names, so they agreed to him adding the ‘Miss’ and ‘Mister’ suffix in front. They wanted to keep him comfortable, after all.

“Yes, sweetheart?” She asked, gently combing her fingers through his hair again.

“Thank you so much,” He choked out, blinking to keep his tears at bay.

She reached over and gathered him up in her arms, pressing a kiss to the top of his head and rubbing his back soothingly with one hand. “Oh, Keith, we’ve been happy to help. We’re just glad that we’ve been able to help you, and that you’re going to get to be with your Mom and Dad soon,” She said gently. He nodded and nuzzled into her, mumbling something else but it was too quiet and muffled to be understood.

That night marked the fourth time Keith got a full nights rest, undisturbed by horrific night terrors.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It only took two days before the response letter from the Holt’s arrived. Ethan had gone to drop off the check and money order letters for his bills and such, as well as to check, and was delighted beyond belief to see the now familiar handwriting of Colleen Holt on the envelope. He was quick to finish locking everything up and head back to the house. Krolia was in the garage, working on reconnecting her communication device to her Blade cruiser when he rolled in. She pushed up the visor she’d been wearing and turned off the blow torch. “Did it come in?” She asked as she set it down on the small tool tray set up beside her.

“It did,” He said as he took off his helmet, setting it aside and then pulling the letter out from the pocket of his jacket. He tore open the flap with little regard before reaching inside and finding a small, recently printed picture inside. He held it up and sucked in a hard breath, blinking to keep the tears at bay as he offered it to Krolia with a huge smile. “They have him. And they are keeping him safe.”

In the picture was an older gentlemen and his wife, both wearing small smiles. A little girl stood with them, cradling a squirming puppy in her arms, bright amber eyes and sandy blonde hair tugged back back with a headband. Beside her, wearing a smile and holding up a little peace-sign, was their son. His eyes were bright and shining in delight. It was a bit hard to make out, but there seemed to be some kind of burn marks along his neck, just above the collar of his shirt. What little they could see of his tail was missing patches of fur and had a strange pink cream smeared along the bald spots.

His expression and the hand sign, however, were what they had needed. They had come up with a code of minor hand signs they’d taught to Keith, just in case anything ever separated the family. The main messages they taught were “I am in a safe place”, “I am unsure if I am safe”, and “I am in danger and scared.” The second phrase was represented by a thumbs up and the last one was represented up a basic wave.

The first option was expressed through a peace sign.

“He’s alive. He’s safe,” Krolia whispered, her voice cracking in relieved disbelief. She pressed a hand to her mouth and a small laugh bubbled out of her.

Ethan smiled and pulled the two letters out, unfolding them carefully. He checked and found Colleen’s first, clearing his throat before starting to read it.

_Dear Kogane Clan,_

_I absolutely understand where your concerns come from. My husband and I were a little confused about what our daughter was telling us when she first encountered your son ourselves, but we knew we had to trust her and look into it further. Keith has been doing much better in regards to his health, as he came to us in a rather concerning state, but I promise we will have time to discuss this once we meet up. I have again included every other method you could need to reach us, just to be safe, as well as included the picture and letter from Keith as you requested. We have one other child, but he has been away at a summer camp for the last few weeks, and won’t be home for a good few more. We wanted to make sure to be as transparent as possible to reassure your comfort._

_Looking forward to our next conversation._

_The Holt Family_

“So he hasn’t been with them the whole time then?” Krolia asked in surprise, still clutching the picture.

“I’d be willing to wager not. In the first later, she did mention that it they met Keith recently. Though I am a bit curious about what, exactly, caused their daughter to meet him first,” Ethan said, a bit of worry tinging his voice. He certainly hoped that both his son and the Holt’s really were in a safe place. He didn’t want any of them to get in trouble or be hurt. And the mention that Keith had been in a bad way when they first got him? That left an uncomfortable weight in his stomach.

He set that letter aside and, instead, picked up the colorful page written by their son.

_I miss you both a whole bunch! And I’m so sorry that I ran off! I got taken to a really bad place and a whole bunch of really scary stuff happened. I was so scared I’d never see you again. But then I met Katie and things got a little better! She’s, like, my best friend! Miss Collie and Mister Sam are her Mom and Dad and they helped me get out of the bad, scary place I was before. Now things have been a lot better! I get to play with Katie and her puppy. His name’s Bae Bae. Oh, and they got me a stuffed hippo! I can’t wait to see you and hug you both! Especially since they said that they’re gonna make sure I can come home soon!_

Underneath the little paragraph was a picture of a cute drawing of the three of them hugging with a bunch of little hearts everywhere. He wiped at his eyes, the tears finally starting to fall, and offered it to Krolia to see. “He drew something for us,” He said quietly, wiping at both his eyes once she took the letter.

She took in a shuddering breath at the picture and squeezed her eyes shut tight, finally allowing the gravity of the situation to settle over her. Her baby boy was alive and safe. They were going to get to bring him home. She was going to get to hug him again, kiss him again, tell him that she loved him and how he was her whole world again. She took in another shaky breath before looking over at the letter Colleen had sent. “They left a phone number, right?” She asked.

“Yeah,” He agreed, sniffling a bit himself. It felt as if a cable inside of him that had been wound to the point of near-snap had been slowly and carefully slackened, allowing him to move and adjust and feel again.

“What’s the difference in time between here and where they live?” She asked.

“There isn’t one, if I’m recalling correctly. Hold on, let me get my phone,” He said before heading back into the house. She grabbed the other letter and followed after him, carefully shutting the door behind her. He came out of the room, cell phone in hand. She handed the letter over wordlessly so he could type in the digits. While it was ringing, he stole a glance at the clock.

Hopefully they wouldn’t be having dinner just yet, as it was already a quarter past five.

Samuel had just shrugged out of his Garrison blazer when the phone in the living room began ringing. He stared at him for a moment before heading over. It could be Iverson calling, he thought begrudgingly. Despite having a Garrison-issued cell phone meant for business calls, Iverson had noted that the other man tended to “not hear” his work phone once he stepped through the door. The other Commander had tried to flag him down before he left that day, but he pretended to not see him. Samuel was already doing them a huge favor by teaching the summer session of Garrison courses and didn’t want to take on any additional overtime. “This is Sam Holt,” He said, doing a decent job of keeping the irritation from his voice.

“Hello, Mr. Holt. This is Ethan Kogane, Keith’s father,” He said, unable to keep the delight from his voice.

Sam’s eyes widened and a smile turned up on his lips. “Mr. Kogane! It’s a pleasure to hear from you,” He said happily. He shifted and flashed a thumbs up to Colleen, whom had stepped out from preparing dinner to see what the commotion was about. She pressed her hands to her chest and released a relieved sigh as he turned his attention back to the call. “And, please, call me Sam.”

“You can call me Ethan, then. I’m sorry we had to take an additional step in verifying what your wife told us in the letter,” Ethan said quietly, settling on the couch and resting his elbows on his knees. Krolia was a single step behind him, sitting as close to him as she possibly could.

“Oh, no need to apologize! I’d want to be safe in your position, as well,” He reassured gently. “We’re just glad we were able to locate and reach out to you. We hate the thought of your family being scattered.”

“I’ll never be able to thank you enough for what you’ve done for us, taking in Keith and all. Hopefully he’s been well-behaved for you,” He said gently.

“He’s been a delight, especially since he’s gotten over his pneumonia,”

“He had _pneumonia_?” He asked in surprise. Krolia tensed up beside him, one hand clutching tight at her knee.

Sam winced a bit. “Ah, I’m sorry. I should have asked how much Colleen had explained in her letter,” He said. Colleen slipped away as he spoke, heading upstairs with quiet yet excited steps. “Keith wasn’t in the best of situations before we were able to bring him to our house. He’s been doing much better, though, and we’ve been doing our best to look after him. It helps that he and our daughter, Katie, get on so well.”

He relaxed a bit. “He mentioned her in his letter. He said she’s his best friend,”

“Oh, they’re thick as thieves. I’m pretty sure they’ve actually been helping each other sneak extra snacks out of the pantry,” He laughed. He smiled at the warm chuckles on the other end of the line.

Ethan gently settled his free hand over Krolia’s, giving a squeeze of reassurance. “Now, not to be all business, but I wanted to ask when we could figure out getting him home.”

“Of course! If you give us a bit of time, I can take a day or two off of work so we can drive him down on night,” Sam offered, perking up as he heard muffled voices approaching the staircase.

“We can drive down to come get him ourselves. We have a vehicle and some camouflage devices for them, so we’ll be safe throughout the whole trip. Plus, we can travel by day that way, too,” He explained.

“In that case, whenever is best for you should work for us,”

“Would it be alright if we drove up tomorrow? Judging by your address, it would only be about a six hour drive for us, and we could make that in easy time,” He suggested.

Sam smiled gently as he turned to look over at Colleen as she ushered the two kids over, both seeming rather curious. “That’s perfect. We’ll make sure things are set up on our end, then,” He said before carefully kneeling down and motioning Keith closer. He approached, his little ears twitching slightly in bemusement. “You know how to use the phone, son?” He asked quietly.

“Yeah,” He said with an accompanying nod.

“Excellent. We’ve got someone on the phone who’d like to talk to you,” He said, carefully handing the device over.

Keith carefully adjusted the device, his little ear tilting down slightly so partially cover the earpiece and help him hear better. “’Ello?” He asked.

Ethan gasped quietly before swallowing hard, more tears starting to rise. He’d been planning to ask Sam if it’d be possible for him to talk to his son. He carefully shifted his phone over to speaker before answering again. “Hey there, buddy,” He managed to choke out after a second.

“Daddy!” Keith all but shrieked, his voice cracking in excitement, jumping in place with his giddiness. Katie’s eyes widened and she looked at her own dad, smile wide and hopeful, and she released a quiet squeal of her own when he nodded in agreement. “Daddy, hi! Hi! I miss you!”

“I miss you too! Oh, you don’t know how good it is to hear your voice,” He said with a hiccupping laugh. Beside him Krolia was in another set of tears of her own. The speaker wasn’t perfect, but it was clear enough for them to hear and know that it was their boy on the other line. “Have you been a good boy for the Holts?”

“Yeah!” Keith said in a mix between a sob and a laugh. He nodded along with his words, even though only the Holts could see him. “I’ve been really good! And they’ve been really nice to me, too! They got me out of the bad place with the mean people in it.”

“I’m so glad you’re safe buddy. We’re gonna come get you real soon, I promise,” He breathed out, trying to compose himself well enough to hide how emotional he was getting.

Krolia reached over to take the phone and he handed it over eagerly. It would give him a second to compose himself again. “How is my little shooting star doing?” She asked, taking a deep breath before speaking. She didn’t want Keith to hear how rattled she was with the variety of emotions coursing through her.

“Mommy!” He cried out, the words cracking a bit as an excited sob broke free of him.

“I’m here, baby boy,” She said soothingly.

“I miss you both so much!” He hiccupped.

All she wanted was to pull him into her arms and squeeze him tight, cuddle him and help calm him back down. “I miss you, too, darling. We’re going to be together again really soon. And do you what I’m gonna do first?”

“What?” He sniffled.

“I’m gonna give you the biggest hug in the whole wide universe,” She hummed, earning a little giggle from him.

“I can’t wait. I love you so much, Mommy,” He said with another little sniffle. After composing himself a bit more, he started telling them a little bit about his new friend and her family. They were able to talk for a full twenty minutes before the Holt’s had dinner ready. With one final exchange of love and promise to be together again soon, they hung up. After settling the phone down, Keith turned around and tightly hugged Samuel’s legs. “Thank you so much!” He mumbled quietly.

Samuel carefully knelt down beside him and pulled him into a proper hug, stroking the young man’s back softly. “We’re happy that we’ve been able to help you all. Now, let’s have some tasty dinner and start settling in for the night, okay?” He mused.

The young man smiled at him and nodded, walking over to the dinner table with him.

For the Kogane’s, the end of the phone call started up a frantic fit of packing. They packed up enough clothes for two days, just to be safe. “I figure, we can pick him up, spend the day with the Holt’s to get the full details on what’s been going on with Keith since he’s been gone, then maybe get a hotel for the night. Head back for home the next morning,” Ethan suggested as he folded a clean pair of jeans and put them in the large suitcase. Since it was only something they planned to do for a few days, they figured they could just share the suitcase.

“That sounds good. I’ll pack up a little bag for him as well,” Krolia agreed, folding up a pair of pants for herself as well. After getting their things packed, she headed to the small room they’d prepared for Keith and packed up some things for him as well. She walked out to the front, where Ethan had set down the suitcase, and placed Keith’s on top of theirs. “What time should we get going tomorrow morning?” She asked.

“Hm… Let’s get up around five, so that then we can be leaving by six at the latest. We can get breakfast on the road and get started on the full trek after that,” He suggested. She smiled and nodded, stepping closer and wrapped her arms around him. He looped an arm around her and squeezed. “I told you I had a good feeling about that letter.”

She hummed in response and nuzzled into him. “I’m glad you were so insistent with me. I can’t wait to get to hold him again,” She breathed softly. A part of her still couldn’t believe that in less than 24 hours, she’d have her baby boy in her arms again. No more sleepless nights wondering whether he was dead or alive; and, if alive, whether he was safe wherever he was or not. Their little family was going to be whole again and she couldn’t contain her delight over it.

Which was probably why she ended up waking Ethan up at three that morning so they could get an even earlier start.

It worked out fine, though, as it meant there was less traffic and an ability to go faster than typically allowed. Krolia activated her camouflage gauntlet before they even left the house, just to be safe. When activated, it looked like a regular silver bracelet. Keith’s did the same thing, and Ethan had gone out to get himself a silver bracelet that matched the devices to help them blend in better. It would still be dark for a decent amount of time but she wasn’t keen on risking get spotted by any other potential drivers. The whole drive her leg was bouncing and she clutched the little camouflage gauntlet she brought for Keith tightly in her hands. Conversation was scarce but it wasn’t uncomfortable when they were overcome by the silence. They were both excited about getting their son back, and in her relief at the prospect, Krolia was keeping the lingering concerns that her anxiety brought to the table from dampening her mood.

They ended up pulling up into the driveway at half past eight that morning.

“Should we just go and knock on the door?” Krolia asked, carefully tugging her hair back into a ponytail and stealing a glance at herself in the passenger side mirror. She wasn’t necessarily opposed to the dark hair and pale skin of her human form, but the eye color was something she was a bit more put-off by. She had always liked the golden tint of her regular eyes much more.

“That seems like our only option. I mean, we could call, but that would be a little silly,” Ethan said as he slipped out, shutting the driver’s door as he did. He waited for her to walk around and join him to start towards the door.

They were right at the front steps when the door opened and a small dog came running out, tail wagging like mad and barking excitedly. “Oh, Bae Bae, come here!” The woman in the doorway called, patting her knee gently.

Ethan chuckled and knelt down to pet the excited pooch, scratching behind one ear and chuckling at how the pup’s back leg started kicking like mad. He then glanced up at the woman and offered a small smile. “You must be Colleen Holt,” He said.

She smiled and nodded, shifting to hold the door open wider in invitation. “And you’re the Kogane’s. Please, come on in. We’ve got a fresh pot of coffee starting up,” She said politely. Ethan gave Bae Bae one more pat on the head before standing and offering a hand to Krolia. She took it eagerly, squeezing lightly as they headed up the steps. The little dog darted past them into the threshold, barking the whole way. “Keith and Katie are still asleep right now, but they’ll be up soon enough. Are either of you hungry? I’m getting ready to start making breakfast, if there’s anything either of you would prefer to have or not have.” She offered.

“Oh, we can get food later. We’d hate to inconvenience you,” Krolia said politely as she stepped inside, looking around curiously. The home was simple but it allowed for a sense of comfort. She watched as Bae Bae darted up the nearby staircase, loud and giddy whines at the newcomers in the home.

“It’s no trouble at all,” Colleen insisted as she shut the door, her smile warm and inviting. She inclined with her head that they follow her. “Luckily it was the last day of the summer term yesterday for Samuel, so he’s home today as well.”

“So your husband is a teacher?” Ethan asked curiously.

“Well, actually,” She explained gently, “he’s a researcher at the Garrison base across town. However, one of the actual instructor’s had a baby just before the summer term started, so Samuel agreed to take over so that they could spend the time adjusting to life as a parent.”

Krolia tensed and stopped in her tracks. “So you are affiliated with the Garrison?” She asked, her tone clipped and suspicious.

The other woman paused and turned to look at her. “Yes. It was where Keith was being kept until Katie was able to communicate what was happening with us,” She said, keeping her tone calm and holding Krolia’s gaze as she spoke. The change in the other woman’s posture was obvious and Colleen’s only goal was to help reaffirm that she and Samuel were only there to help. “Once she told us about what was happening to him, we knew we had to get him out. He’s just a child.” Samuel, settled at the kitchen table with the paper, perked up when he heard the approaching voices. He got up and walked out, coming to stand beside Colleen, a worried frown on his features.

“What, exactly, were they doing to him?” Ethan asked uneasily, moving to loop his arm over his wife’s shoulders to pull her close and try to reassure her.

“To put it in the simplest of terms, they were putting him through grueling experimentation,” Samuel said, keeping his voice quiet. The Kogane’s turned to look at him with wide, horrified eyes. “He clearly isn’t very comfortable talking about a lot of it, but he’s told us little bits and pieces. When I arrived to smuggle him out, they were going to…” He trailed off, his hands clenching in anger at the memory.

They were cut off by the sound of Bae Bae darting down the stairs and eager steps along the stairs. “Mommy, can we have pancakes for breakfast, please?” Katie called as she darted into the room in her green spotted pajamas.

Keith was fast on her heels, mouth open to add on to her statement, but he fell silent and his eyes got wide when he saw whom the Holt’s were talking to. “Mommy! Daddy!” He gasped before surging forward.

The second he moved, Krolia collapsed to her knees and scooped him up in her arms, letting out a shaky broken cry of his name. After securing her grip on him, she stood back up and turned to Ethan, the pair exchanging watery smiles before he pulled them both into him. Colleen and Samuel exchanged happy smiles as Katie watched with wide, giddy eyes. Her father motioned her over with one hand and she pattered along to him, letting him pick her up.

“Why don’t you and I get the table set while your Mom starts on breakfast? The Kogane’s probably want a little bit of privacy,” He said quietly.

She smiled and nodded eagerly. “I’m sure they would really, really like Mommy’s blueberry pancakes for breakfast,” She said. Her own parents laughed and nodded before disappearing to get breakfast ready.

After a few minutes of just holding him and assuring this wasn’t a dream, Krolia pulled back enough to deactivate her camouflage device and gently smooth his hair back with one hand, keeping him settled on her hip, then offered his own device to him. He beamed up at her, his little eyes still a bit watery, but held his wrist out so it could be clasped into place. They didn’t bother with activating it, though. Ethan leaned in and pressed a quick peck to his forehead, grinning when he reached of him in turn. He took him and held him up above his head, lifting and dipping him so they could exchange Eskimo kisses each time he was close. They both had a decent amount of questions about what had happened and where he’d been prior to the Holt’s taking him in, but they wanted to take a little bit of time to just bask in the relief of knowing their son was in their arms.

Once they’d had a good few minutes of peace, Katie came out and announced that breakfast was ready. All excitement and hunger, Keith eagerly squirmed free and pulled on a hand from each of his parent’s to follow him along. Ethan tried to insist that they could feed themselves, worried about being an inconvenience, but Colleen wouldn’t hear it. As they settled in and plates were served, Keith began telling his parents about where he’d been and how he met Katie. Colleen poured a cup of coffee for each of them, quietly jumping in to forewarn them that what he’d been through was far from pleasant, before then getting a glass of chocolate milk for each of the children. Once they all had their plates prepared and were starting to eat, he began telling them.

He explained that he’d gotten lost and didn’t remember where, exactly, to go to get home. He had figured that, so long as he stayed on the road, he’d get found eventually. Since there had been no traffic, he’d been walking along the outer edge of the road, his little arms out as he played a balancing game with himself. He’d been so preoccupied with watching his feet that he hadn’t noticed the headlights coming straight for him until it was too late. All he remembered about the accident after that was that it hurt and he’d seen a shadowy figure hovering over him.

When he woke up, he’d already been relocated to his cell in the research facility at the Garrison base with Dr. Fritz and her assistant, Dr. Dickens. They waited until his injuries from the accident had healed up, but then they noticed that his injuries healed much quicker than a human’s did. It was at that point that they started doing things to hurt him and see how he reacted to such things.

As Samuel cleared the table, Keith said that, very shortly after they started doing the bad things to him, Dr. Fritz brought Katie down to meet him. “I was kinda confused to see a kid like me there. But it was kinda cool, too,” He said with a smile, turning to look at her.

She beamed at him and nodded. “I was really surprised, too! But I noticed that Keith really didn’t like Hannah and Andy. And I remember thinking that wasn’t good, because it’s not fun being around people you don’t like. And I could tell that he knew what I was saying, but he didn’t want to talk, so I had to think of a way so we could talk without actually talking,” She said.

“It was a super smart idea, too!” Keith agreed, grinning widely at his parents.

“And what was this idea?” Ethan asked with a small smile, watching the two children curiously.

“I’ll show you!” Katie giggled happily, hoping down from her chair and darting off. She returned just a few minutes later with a sketchbook and set it on the table, opening it to show them all the little drawings she’d done. “We used the pictures! All the little symbols have a secret code to them that let us tell super-secret messages to each other! Hannah and Andy never even realized it, either!” She beamed happily. She then paused and puffed her cheeks out a bit, a pout replacing her smile. “We had to get rid of Keith’s pictures, though. Dad said that it was of utters imported.”

“Utmost importance, sweet pea. We figured that it would be safer to remove the evidence of the pictures, in case the Garrison does come around asking questions,” Samuel explained, patting his daughter’s head and turning his attention to the other two adults at his reasoning. Krolia blinked a bit in surprise before nodding, surprised but grateful at the forethought.

Ethan chuckled and looked through. “That’s an impressive plan,” He mused lightly, pausing on the little picture of Keith on the last colored page in the sketchbook. “Oh, that’s rather cute, don’t you think?” He said, showing it to Krolia.

Keith peered over as well and gawked in surprise. “I never saw that one before! It looks so good!” He said, looking from the picture to Katie.

She giggled and shifted in her seat, her expression bashful. “I drew it when I told my parents about you! So that then they’d know what you looked like,”

“I wanna draw a picture of you, too!” Keith said, carefully scrambling out of his seat. He then paused and looked up at his parents. “Is it okay if we go get Katie’s markers so we can draw?”

Krolia chuckled and gently combed one hand through his hair. “Of course. You two should probably take a second to get dressed, too. You shouldn’t be lounging around in your pajamas all day,” She said.

The two nodded and headed off eagerly. Once they were gone, Colleen settled into her seat while Samuel started up another fresh pot of coffee. “I suppose while they’re upstairs, we’ll discuss things on our end,” She said gently.

The other woman nodded. “So Katie brought things to your attention?”

“Yes,” Samuel agreed as he returned to his own seat. “Katie was originally supposed to be in summer camp this year, but she was being bullied so I pulled her out. Colleen was away helping with some business out of state, so my only option was to bring Katie with me to work. From what I can surmise, Hannah realized pretty early on that, even though she couldn’t put a specific age on him, Keith was a younger example of whatever race he belonged to. She must have realized that Katie may be able to get extra information for their studies, since the two would be of a similar age group, and offered to watch her for me. It was presented to me that Katie would be helping with analyzing plant life found on another planet.”

“How long was it before Katie came to you with the truth?” Ethan asked.

“About a month. Then she noticed that Keith was very sick and having trouble breathing. She was very worried about him, but Hannah wouldn’t listen to her. From what Keith has told us when he’s opened up about it, Hannah was running experiments on his lung capacity by dunking him in a water tank to see how long he could hold his breath for. But they weren’t properly drying him off or giving his warm, clean clothes after. It started as a simple cold but due to their neglect it started to escalate and, by the time we were able to get to him, it was certainly pneumonia,”

“Katie said that when Sam told her that I’d be coming home, she knew it was time to reach out to get some real help for Keith,” Colleen chimed in.

Sam nodded. “She told me about Keith after Hannah dropped her off that day and showed me the pictures. At first, I thought that she’d just invented an imaginary friend,”

“What changed your mind?” Ethan asked.

“The streaks patterns from the markers. Katie’s right-handed, but some of the pictures were clearly written by someone using their left hand. I assessed that whoever else was drawing in the book had to be ambidextrous, as half the pictures Katie insisted were drawn by Keith had tells of someone who was left-handed while the other half was someone who was right-handed. No one in the Garrison base is ambidextrous, and none of the officers assigned to the alien life form research department is left handed, so I knew that it couldn’t be a matter of another Garrison official drawing with her. The only reasonable conclusion, as strange as it would seem, was that my daughter was telling me the truth about having an alien friend,” He explained.

Krolia stared at him in shock for a moment before a small smile turned up on her lips. “I’m rather surprised you analyzed it that deeply. I’m sure many other parents would have simply waved it off,”

“Well, those other parents must not know their kids as well as I know mine. Katie was very upset and worried about Keith, to the point she was about to cry. She doesn’t normally get like that, so I knew that there had to be merit in what she was telling me,” He said with a small shrug. He opted against explaining how neglectful his own parents had been and, in turn, he had vowed to look after his own children as best he could. “Anyway, after we brought Colleen home and showed her the pictures, she was able to hack into the security cameras at the Garrison base and we started investigating.”

His wife beamed at the impressed glances she received for that. “Well, it wasn’t that terribly difficult. Honestly, I’m surprised nobody has hacked into the Garrison before this. But, regardless, once we got a lay of the land and figured out our plan of attack, it just became a matter of sending word along to you two that we had him. We wanted to let you know as soon as possible, so I sent it ahead the next day, when we were planning to spring Keith,”

“How did you find us, anyway?” Ethan asked.

Krolia nodded. “We don’t have a specific address, and I doubt that Keith knows the information for the P.O. box,”

Sam chuckled and leaned back a bit in his seat. “It _was_ Keith that gave us what we needed, actually. He didn’t give Katie a lot to go by, but he did give us your first and last name, Ethan, as well as mentioning you were some kind of civil servant and that you had the scar through your eyebrow,”

“One of his drawings in the secret messages was of a landscape in Nevada that we knew well. During our engagement and up until I became pregnant with Matt, we were stationed at the Garrison base out there. Once we had the location, we narrowed it down to you and sent the letter,”

“That evening, I snuck into the research facility and confronted Andrew about what was going on. He was certainly far from pleased about it, but I dispatched of him easily enough and took Keith away. At the time, they were planning to… Well, I can’t really think of a gentle way to explain this,” He said uneasily, causing the Kogane’s to perk up in concern, “but they we clearly intending to execute Keith and then dissect him.”

“They were going _to what_?” Krolia snarled, slamming one of her fists down on the table and shooting upright. The chair she’d been settled into went tumbling behind her. The Holt’s both visibly flinched, looking from her to their kitchen table, where there was now a sizable dent in wood.

Sensing their alarm and discomfort, Ethan reached out and settled a hand on her back. “Krolia, sugar plum, no need to lash out at them,” He said quietly.

She looked at him, lips twisted up in a preparation to snarl, but she tensed up at a quiet, curious, “Mommy?” Keith stood there, Katie beside him, a little package of markers in his hands, watching her with concerned eyes. He slowly turned and handed the markers back over to his friend and then darted over to her, holding his arms up to her. Understanding the unspoken request, she let her stance slacken and leaned down to scoop him up. He wrapped his arms around her neck tightly and snuggled up into her. “It’s okay, Mommy. I don’t know why you’re grumpy, but I know it’ll be okay.”

She squeezed him lightly and closed her eyes, tilting her head to press a kiss to his temple. Ethan leaned over and carefully picked the chair back up. Once it was propped back up, she settled back into the seat with Keith still clutched to herself. “I’m sorry,” She said, lifting her head to look at them, “please, continue. I’ll do better about keeping my temper under control.”

“Not much more to say, really,” Samuel said calmly, pausing to help Katie back up into the chair she had vacated a bit before. Once she was settled in, she started shifting through the pages of her sketchbook, completely oblivious to the small burst that had just occurred. He smiled and reached over to ruffle her hair. “The only other things I wanted to mention was that he will have some scarring from everything they did to him. In specific, he has a numerical marking on his hips from… What they intended to do to him.” He said delicately. Katie and Keith both paused to look at between the adults curiously, seeming to pick up on what had been discussed in their absence.

Keith looked up at his parents. “Most of my owies are gone now. Miss Collie and Mister Sam have been helping me get better with medicine and rest,” He said.

Krolia’s eyes were soft on her son and she pulled him in close again. “I’m so glad, sweetie,” She mused softly. She glanced over at the Holt’s again, her smile still bright. “I’m not sure if I’ve said this yet, but even if I have, it bears repeating. Thank you both so much for helping him. Keith… He’s our whole world.” She said, looking down at him at the last sentence.

He beamed up at her while Ethan leaned over to lightly pinch between the little boy’s shoulder and neck, causing him to squeal in delight.

Colleen’s smile was soft as she watched the exchange. “We were happy to help. After all,” She said, pausing to glance over at Katie with a fond look of her own, “we have two of our own. If something like this ever happened to them, we would hope that someone would help them, too.”

Ethan smiled and nodded. “We really do owe you two a debt we may never be able to repay. Just… Thank you so much,”

Samuel smiled and nodded his head before carefully pushing up from the table. “It’s been our pleasure to help. Now, would either of you like some more coffee?” He offered, pausing when the soft chime of the doorbell echoed around them. He and Colleen exchanged curious looks with each other and then the Kogane’s.

“We weren’t expecting any other company,” Colleen said as she stood as well. Katie watched her parents, concern slowly rising inside of her.

Samuel walked over and checked the door. He sucked in a breath at the family goldenrod and olive uniforms standing outside. Admiral Walker was turned to partially chat with the other figures beside her, two of them familiar and two unfamiliar. The two Sam didn’t recognize were most likely just there to help with the purpose of their arrival. The other two beside her, both seeming vindictively giddy judging by their expressions, though, he was displeased about.

He hadn’t expected for Hannah and Andrew to rat him out when they had no evidence to support their claims. He stepped back and headed over towards the table where the rest were waiting. “It’s Admiral Walker. She’s here with Andrew and Hannah. They’re most likely coming to investigate what happened,” He said gently.

Keith’s eyes widened before he turned to look up at his parents, expression pure horror and panic. “They want to take me and hurt me again, don’t they? I don’t wanna go with them!” He wailed, tears springing to his eyes and his little ears flattening against his head.

Krolia pulled him into her as tightly as she could. “I’ll tear them limb from limb if they try to take you away from me,” She growled in quiet conviction.

“We’re not going to let them take you,” Colleen agreed, taking a deep breath.

Samuel nodded, his own face growing stern in contemplation. “Here’s what we’re going to do; activate the cloaking devices for both you and Keith. Our story is that you, Ethan, are an old friend of Colleen’s from your youth. The two of you have kept in touch and were extremely close. As such, when you heard about the health struggles her father has been going through, you decided to bring your family down to visit in hopes of lifting her spirits. I’ll do my best to keep them from coming inside, but just be prepared for if they do,” He said evenly.

Ethan blinked then nodded. He turned and looked over at Krolia, whom was already carefully moving to active the device around Keith’s wrist. “You think you can put on a brave face, buddy?” He asked, reaching over to gently cup one of his son’s cheeks and wipe away a few of his tears.

He took in a shuttering breath and nodded.

Samuel took in a breath of his own and offered a small smile to his wife and daughter, both watching him worriedly. The doorbell chimed yet again. “Okay, everyone. It’s show time,” He said before turning and heading back to the entryway.


	4. Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the Garrison at the door ready to figure out what's going on, the Holt's and Kogane's have to put up a good facade to keep them all safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cautionary Warning: Intimidation of a Child, Assault of a Child, Minor Gore, and Mentions of Sexual Assault/Government Cover-Up (Does Not Involve any Minor Characters).  
> Additionally, I've pretty much determined what other ships will be sailing in this fic, so I'll be adding those into the tags witht he release of the next chapter.

Samuel took a deep breath as he reached for the door handle, hearng quiet chatter between Colleen and the Kogane’s. Hopefully they were ironing out a few last minute details that would help them keep up the façade. He looked over briefly to see her ushering them towards the living room, Katie darting over to the kitchen table again to grab her markers and drawing pad. Regardless of what ended up happening, he reminded himself that his only goal was making sure the Kogane’s secret and safety was guaranteed. He made sure to keep his expression neutral as he opened the door, coming face to face with the three Garrison officials on his doorsteps.

"Hello, Admiral Walker. How are you doing this fine day?" He asked, allowing a bit of pleasantly surprised warmth to slip into his tone.

The woman in question perked up and offered him a smile. "Hello, Samuel; doing as well as to be expected. Sorry to have to intrude without any kind of forewarning, but we have a small situation we need to handle. And, as it turns out, we needed to come speak with yourself and your daughter," She said, seeming surprisingly unperturbed. Why, if not for Hannah and Andrew both being right there, he may think this was about him being needed for some special assignment or other mundane matter. "Would it be alright if we came inside to chat?"

“Well, we actually have guests over right now. Is there any way we can reschedule this discussion for a later date? Perhaps after our company has headed out?” He suggested.

Admiral Walker clicked her tongue and shook her head. “I’m afraid not, Samuel. This situation is one I need to have a grasp on before those chatty bastards we call higher up start popping in. You know how much of a headache it can be when you get too many chiefs shouting orders without enough Indians around to follow through,” She said, her tone strangely sympathetic but firm.

He made sure to keep a confused expression on his face as he stepped aside and motioned they come into his house. “May I at least inquire as to how this involves myself and Katie?” As they started to brush past him, Andrew glared at him. Sam made sure to offer him a wide, smugly satisfied grin, relishing a bit in the lingering redness and swelling around the other man’s eyes.

It was the least he deserved after the monster he’d been to a child like Keith.

“Don’t play dumb with us, Samuel!” Andy growled, shifting as if he meant to launch himself at the other.

Admiral Walker shifted, digging a well-placed elbow into the young man’s stomach. "I don’t believe I asked for _commentary_ from the _peanut gallery_ ," She sneered. The icy look she pinned him with seemed enough to subdue him just a bit, as he stepped back a beat and dipped his head. He was still glaring at Sam through his curled, ruffled bangs, though.

Hannah cleared her throat and held up one hand, standing beside Admiral Walker on her other side and addressing Walker. "You'll have to forgive Andrew. He's still young and doesn't always recognize when he needs to step down," She said evenly. She then offered a sideway glance at the older male. "But he _is_ correct. In my logs regarding the research with our test subject, I made note of how Katie has assisting us with our research and that we had the approval of her father."

"I've _read_ the files, Fritz; unlike the _pair of you_ , I actually know how to _do my job_ ,"

"My notes were _incredibly detailed_ ," Hannah snapped back, not even bothering to mask her frustration

"Ah, yes. _So_ detailed that you included _no photographic or video evidence_ of your test subject. Just in case something like this _did_ occur,"

"The test subject was a _juvenile,_ with no obvious skills that could help it escape!"

"In yet it _still_ managed to get away from the two of you,"

"Because _those two helped it break out_!" Andy snapped, pointing an accusatory finger at the other man.

Admiral Walker scoffed and rolled her eyes. "We'll see about that,” She then looked back over at Samuel.

“Are Katie and I being accused of something?”

“Nothing you need to worry about, honestly,”

“Andrew’s little outburst certainly doesn’t reaffirm that,” Samuel commented, regarding the other man calmly before looking back at the Admiral. “If I’m being accused of stealing, then surely the security feed should provide sufficient evidence to the contrary, correct?”

She sucked in a deep breath, her eyebrow twitching in slight irritation, and she slowly released the breath through her nose and closed her eyes. “For reasons that have yet to be explained, the security cameras on that floor have been disabled, and left us with no video or audio to backtrack. Hence why I’ve had to come and do a home visit,” She explained without opening her eyes. Her tone was tight and clipped, though, revealing to him just how furious this face made her. When she opened her eyes again, though, none of that breeched through. “As I’m sure you’ve deduced, this has to do with the work your daughter had been helping Fritz with in the research labs.”

He nodded. “I was aware that she was helping, as Hannah said, but she didn’t tell me much of anything about what she did,” He explained as he indicated the other room with a small tip of his head.

“Hopefully she won’t mind talking with us about it, then. And we’ll do our best to keep these brief, so as to avoid encroaching on your time with your guests,” She mused, glancing back briefly to look at Hannah and Andy, before allowing Samuel to lead her along. The two fell in line behind her without a word.

He nodded his head, mind jumping to the next option. "Of course. We can speak in my study, if you’d like, just so we don’t have to worry about privacy or anything,” He said as he headed past the threshold and into the living room. He had been planning to simply go gather Katie from the kitchen but was surprised to see them all settled in the living room.

Admiral Walker hummed as she walked in behind him and smiling at the congregation gathered in the living room. "Oh, I see," She hummed, calmly removing her admiral cap. Her eyes were bright at the two small heads lifted from the floor to stare at her, a sketchpad and box of markers settled between them, before turning to quickly sweep her eyes over the three adults. "Hello all. Good to see you again, Colleen.”

“Always a pleasure, Admiral Walker,” Colleen hummed, rising from her seat in Sam’s lounge chair and offering her hand.

Walker laughed lightly as she gave her hand a friendly shake. “Oh, please, Colleen, you can just call me Angela,” She mused. She then looked back over at the two children, pausing to kneel down and offer her hand to the youngest Holt. “And I take it that you must be Katie. I've heard many good things about what a smart and helpful young lady you are."

Katie plastered on a smile and took her hand. “Thank you. It’s very nice to meet you, Angela,”

“Katie, manners!” Colleen hissed quietly.

“It’s fine, Colleen,” Walker laughed before turning her attention to Keith. “Hello there, little guy. What’s your name?” She asked politely.

Keith stared at her, violet eyes wide, before he scrambled over to his father on the nearby couch, ducking behind his leg. “Ah, it’s okay, buddy,” He cooed softly, reaching down to gently rub Keith’s back. He then offered a sheepish smile to the Admiral as he carefully plucked his son up and offered him over to his wife before standing up himself. “I apologize; he’s a bit on the shy side.”

Admiral Walker, however, was entirely unfazed by the rather dramatic reaction she received. “Oh, no, it’s quite fine. I have a few grandchildren and the youngest gets that way when meeting new people, too,” She then offered her hand to him, head tilted a bit. “I’m Angela Walker. And you are?”

He took her hand and gave a firm shake, making sure to keep a pleasant smile in place. "Ethan Kogane. This is my wife, Kristen, and our son, Keith," He said, shifting to indicate them once his hand was released.

Krolia lifted her head from where she’d been gently mumbling to Keith to give a brief nod. “It’s a pleasure,” She said evenly.

“I’m sorry for startling your boy,” Admiral Walker offered politely before turning her attention back to Samuel. Keith relaxed a bit at having the attention taken off of him, slumping further into his mother’s arms. “Now then, Samuel, shall we get down to business? As I said, I don’t want to hold you up any longer than necessary, and the sooner I have answer to offer the high ups the smoother things will go for us all.”

He nodded. "Of course. We'll just need to head past the staircase here. My office is the first room on the right," He said.

Admiral Walker nodded and crossed her arms behind her back before looking over at Katie, still sprawled out on the floor. “If it's not a bother, Katie, would you mind coming with us?" She asked. The small child blinked, seeming uneasy and stealing a glance over at her mother. Colleen offered her a reassuring smile before she looked back at the Garrison official. "You aren't in trouble, darling. We just have a few questions about what you've been helping Dr. Fritz with while you were visiting."

"Mkay," She said while pushing herself up and heading over.

"Her sketchbook!" Andy snapped suddenly, pointing with a glare.

Hannah turned to glare back at him in retaliation, the two of them already skating on thin ice from what the brief squabble at the door had shown him. Which, admittedly, wasn’t surprising, considering the severity of the situation. What caused him to tense up, though, was how Andrew reacted to Hannah’s words. Unlike their other interactions, he didn’t back down or shirk away like he was prone to before. They glared one another down for a whole thirty seconds, the air tense for the duration of it, before she took a deep breath and turned to look back at Admiral Walker, forcing herself to seem calm. "As I’m sure you recall, Admiral, her sketchbook will go quite a good way in providing the evidence you require for our claims,"

"It's _not_ my first day on the job, you two," Admiral Walker hissed quietly at the two of them, her eyes sharp and cold. They backed down a bit at her tone, though a spark of defiance still shone in Fritz’ eyes. Walker then turned back to the small child, her gentle and patient approach falling back into place. "Now, Katie, Dr. Fritz said you have some lovely pictures in your sketchbook. Would you mind bringing them along to show me?"

“Keith and I were drawing, and it was his turn, though,” She said, looking from her sketchbook back to the older woman.

“Don’t worry, darling. You won’t be gone very long; five, maybe ten minutes tops. As soon as we’re done, you can come back out here and draw with your friend again,” She said with a small, reassuring smile.

She paused to look over at the young boy still cuddled up with his mother. "I'll be back in a little bit and then we can color some more, mkay, Keith?" He offered her a small nod, giving a half-smile. She brightened back up at him before picking up her sketchbook and heading along with Admiral Walker. "I just wanna say that I'm really good as drawing, so don't be jealous of my pictures!"

The older woman chuckled as she let Samuel lead them along. "I'm sure they're gorgeous, and I'll be sure to mind my manners," She mused, gently indicating Katie follow behind Samuel closest. She paused to glare at the other two adults before her, the frigid air returning. “For the sake of your careers, I would certainly hope neither of you have been leading me on a wild goose chase.”

Hannah frowned, but made no other comment or argument about the statement. Andrew, however, seemed to be quietly seething, following after Admiral Walker with a scowl on his face and an odd spark in his eyes.

The others left in the living room waited until the voices were nothing but mere muffles followed by the sound of a door creaking shut before releasing a small breath. "It's up to them now," Colleen said quietly, carefully getting up from her seat. “I’m going to get myself a drink. Would any of you like one as well?”

Krolia shook her head. "We could leave while they're talking. Escape before they can pry any information out of Samuel and Katie," She suggested.

The other peered out the window for a moment before sighing and shaking her head. She moved the curtains a bit further to allow them a clear view of the driveway. "That won't work. They blocked the driveway with their vehicle,"

"Isn't that _illegal_ on this planet?" Krolia asked in shock.

Ethan nodded, leaning forward to rest his arms on his knees. "Yeah, but considering they're a government authority? Calling the cops wouldn't do us much,"

"Infuriating," She growled lowly, tightening her hold on their child just a bit. Of course they would park their vehicle there, if they suspected the Holt’s were guilty of hiding life from another planet in their home. They’d come here prepared to get answer, first and foremost. The façade of kindness that Admiral Walker had presented did nothing to trick or relax Krolia; she’d seen sweet-tongued monsters and what they could do many a time before.

Sensing her apprehension, Ethan reached out and gently draped an arm over her shoulders. "It'll be okay, sugar plum. Samuel's been good to us so far; I know he’ll get this all sorted out,” He mused. She glanced up at him, the altered violet color of her eyes doing nothing to mask the anxiety and resulting frustration from her.

"Is Katie gonna be okay?" Keith asked quietly, looking between his parents uneasily. He’d never seen his mother this unnerved before, seen his father this tense. A part of him silently berated himself, because this was all his fault. If he hadn’t thrown a fit and run away, he never would have been taken away by Hannah and Andy and put through everything he’d experienced.

But, he realized, he also never would have met Katie, and getting the chance to make a friend was something he couldn’t say he regretted. He didn’t get along very well with the other younger recruits back on the Blade base, given so little was known about Earth by the Blade members outside his mother. It was hard to relate to the others, who had additional skills and abilities due to their mixed heritage, while he simply didn’t seem to be all that impressive. Additionally, he was significantly smaller than them, so they rarely ever wanted to spar with him since he wasn’t considered much of a threat. He was small, from a small planet with nothing of note. And, to all of them, that meant that he, too, was nothing to note.

But Katie liked him, just as he was, and they had a lot fun together and that meant a lot to him. He didn’t want anything bad to happen to her because of him.

"She'll be just fine, bud. They're just having a little talk," His dad said as he ruffled his hair, his voice warm and smile an attempt for soothing.

Keith made a small noise of agreement before letting himself slump back against his mother, hoping that his dad was right.

Samuel’s office was a modest set-up; a simple desk, a bookcase, and a small loveseat. The loveseat had been added a few years ago, to give Matt and Katie a place to sit when they decided to wander in and join him. Normally they’d come in with their homework while he did some at-home work of his own. “I’m sorry there isn’t much sitting room. I’m not used to having a little crowd in here,” He said with a small laugh.

Admiral Walker gently ushered Katie into the wheeling chair for Samuel’s desk, patting the chair for the young girl to climb up. “It’s quite alright. Katie shouldn’t be here for very long,” She reassured. Once Katie had settled into the chair, Admiral Walker stood beside the chair and indicated the sketchpad. “Dr. Fritz told me you drew some very interesting pictures while you were helping her on the base. Would you mind showing them to me?”

“Mhm!” Katie mused happily, opening the sketch pad and starting to skim through the pages.

“What kind of stuff did you get to do?” Walker asked.

“I got to help with looking at plant samples. It was super cool how a lot of stuff we find on other planets can look like plants on Earth!”

“ _She’s lying_!” Andrew yelled, starting to push up from his seat as if he meant to go at them. Walker and Katie both looked over at him, one in annoyance and the other in fear, and Sam placed himself right in front of the younger man.

“Take another step toward my daughter, Andrew, and I’m not sure _you’ll live to regret it_!” Samuel bellowed back, squaring his shoulders and glaring down his nose at him. He may not be the most physically imposing guy, but he had enough basic combat training to know how to defend himself. And he certainly wasn’t going to just stand by while someone like Andrew tried to intimidate one of his kids.

“Dickens, sit down _now_!” Admiral Walker said evenly, her eyes returning again to the glare she seemed to prefer for them. Even though her tone was composed, there was a clear threat behind her words. The two of them squared off for a full moment, glaring each other down, before Andrew slowly slipped back into his seat. His leg started to bounce, though, and he directed his attention back to Samuel.

Samuel himself kept his posture erect and made no indication to move away. He wasn’t going to lower his guard until the other Garrison officials were out of his house.

Katie swallowed nervously, shifting in her seat. “I don’t wanna be in here with them,” She mumbled quietly, looking between her dad and the Admiral anxiously.

“Don’t worry about them, Katie. Just focus on me, okay? Now, this is a pretty picture. Is this your puppy?” She asked, leaning over and indicating the current page.

The young girl nodded, brightening back up just slightly. “Yeah! Her name’s Bae Bae!”

The next five minutes breezed by in a surprisingly painless manner, as far as Sam was concerned. Katie talked about being shown the facilities down below, spending a lot of her time drawing and looking at the samples. With every word she spoke – every removal of interacting with a young alien – Andrew would release some loud, wordless noise of protest. When the pictures that Keith had drawn proved to be absent, Hannah had panicked. She insisted on looking through personally, she and Andrew pressing close as they skimmed page after page, only seeing drawing after drawing of Katie’s.

“This sketchbook is missing pages. They’ve clearly removed the incriminating pictures,” Hannah insisted, trying to maintain her composure but just the slightest hint of panic starting to creep in.

“I took a couple pictures out to put up in my room. I can go get them or take you to see them,” Katie offered, looking up at Admiral Walker with a small smile.

The older woman chuckled and shook her head, reaching down to ruffle Katie’s hair. “I’m sure they’re lovely, but there’s no need. You’ve been a very good girl answering all my questions and telling me the truth. You can go back out to play with your friend now. Thank you again for helping clear things up for us, darling,” She said patiently, offering one hand and helping Katie slip out of the large chair.

Samuel took the sketchbook back from Hannah, who seemed completely gob smacked, and handed it back to his daughter. He escorted her out of the room, sending her on her way with a little pat on the head. With the door shut and Katie gone, any warmth left in the room seemed to evaporate. Admiral Walker had settled into the plush, leather rolling chair, observing the two researchers on the small couch with undisguised fury in her eyes. Hannah was leaning back in the seat, shoulders slumped, the picture of frustration. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she was watching Sam’s every move with narrowed eyes. Meanwhile, Andrew’s bouncing had completely stopped, and instead his hands were twitching as he stared Samuel down, too. He kept his composure, though, as he shifted to stand before the other three Garrison officers.

“Your daughter is a _lying little bitch_ and you’re a _fucking rat_ , Holt!” Andrew snarled after a beat of silence.

“Don’t you _dare_ say such _vile things_ about my Katie! She’s just a _child_ getting roped into your _nonsense_!” He growled back, not even bothering to hide his disgust.

“She was interacting with the subject _daily_ ,” Hannah said, trying to put some kind of certainty into her tone. However, her ehad wasn’t tipped up as much it normally was when she spoke with full confidence. “They were drawing pictures to each other every day. Her sketchbook was _filled_ with drawings that they did for each other! _Countless pages_ were missing, you _have_ to believe me!” Her last sentence was where more of her composed façade broke away, shifting into something pleading and just a hair frantic.

The older woman stared at her for a moment. “I’m growing rather tired of having to reiterate that I know how to do my job. Do you think I just sit around, sipping mojitos and eating bon-bons all day?” She then turned her steely gaze to Samuel. “They do raise a valid point, though. Removing crayon drawing from a tear-and-share sketchbook would be a rather easy feat.”

“It would be, should there have been a reason to do so,” He agreed with a small nod.

“He claimed that he’d _hacked_ into the security cameras! Said that _he had sources_ that were recording _everything_!” Andrew accused, standing and pointing at him.

Walker blinked once, twice, then looked back at Samuel with a quirked eyebrow. “I don’t know what he’s talking about,” He said with a small laugh, “as he and I haven’t spoken since… God, I can’t even _remember_ how long ago? In the break room, I believe, some weeks back?” He then looked over at Hannah and Andrew, tilting his head. “Additionally, if the cameras were shut down, how could I have hacked into them? Why, myself or these supreme hacker experts would have to, what? Hack into the main security mainframe to manually boot the cameras back up, begin recording on an outside device, and then shut it all back down once I got out? That seems like an awful lot of trouble to go through because of… What, exactly?”

“Because your daughter _told_ you about our subject,” Hannah growled quietly.

“So I just decided to break into my place of employment – which is a governmental organization – to break out a potentially dangerous alien because of the words of a six year old and some pictures she could have drawn herself? That seems like very little for me to take action on in your minds,” He said with a small laugh, trying to highlight what would normally be seen as an absurd situation. Admiral Walker didn’t need to know that was _exactly_ what had happened. Instead, he could play into the sheer lunacy of the situation to anyone looking at it from the outside.

“You’re a _fucking liar_! _You_ sprayed me in the face with pepper spray! _You_ told me that you’d have the tapes leaked to the media if anything happened to you! _You ruined everything_! _You_! _You_! _You_!”

“You’re delusional and throwing a temper tantrum like a toddler is only further proving that,” He quipped back flatly.

“And if I were to request access to all electronic devices in your home to have these claims put to the test?” Admiral Walker prompted, turning her attention from the two researchers and back to him. He knew exactly what she was thinking by making such a suggestion but he knew better than to lose his focus or let any sign of uncertainty show though.

“I’d be more than happy to comply. I’d only need to stress that the tech team be careful with my laptop; the stickers Katie put on it are starting to get a little worn and I’d hate to lose any of them,”

Admiral Walker hummed and nodded. “I appreciate your honesty, Samuel,” She said before pushing herself up from the desk. “If it would be permissible, though, may I do an examination of your home? Surely if you have some kind of foreign living organism in your house that falls under the reported physicality of the alleged life form, it wouldn’t be a particularly difficult feat to find. That would effectively silence any argument to be had about Samuel’s guilt in this alleged prison break, correct?”

“Unless he took the alien back to it’s ship!” Andrew argued.

“Not impossible, but surely implausible. He’s been punctual for all the summer course sessions he agreed to take on,” Walker scoffed lightly.

“He could have taken it there _after_ his classes let out for the day!”

“ _Still_ implausible,” Walker said, her tone tight and clipped. She leaned back in her seat, arms crossed over her chest, watching the other two with unmasked “I read the full file about your research, but I’m beginning to wonder if you did. The subject was located on the side of the road in Nevada, while Fritz was on her way traveling back from the Nevada recruitment and training location. A round trip from there and back – depending on where, exactly, the alien’s space craft could have been – would have taken at least twelve hours. And, again, if we operate under the continued theory that the alien was a juvenile, it surely had to come here with at least one matured alien of the same species. Under that theory, Samuel would then additionally need to locate the matured specimen, reunite it with the juvenile, and then help them leave the planet. Which would have required even _more_ time be taken to locate the matured specimen, correct?”

“He could have-!”

“I didn’t ask about your inane ramblings, Dickens. I asked a simple yes or no question, and I expect an answer in line with that,”

“Then the answer would be yes. But he could have sent Colleen to do it! She could have done it for him while he was at work!” Andrew argued.

“You’re more than welcome to double check the mileage on Colleen’s car. She’s the only one who drives it and, for the weeks she was gone over the summer, it’s simply sat,” Samuel said, holding up a hand to call attention over to himself.

“Do you have any kind of record of the mileage shortly before she left town? So we can better assure the calculations makes sense?” She prompted.

He nodded and headed over to the large filing cabinet, rummaging through. “Actually, yes. We had to have some work done on it before she left and we tend to keep records,” He said, rummaging through the designated folder. He produced the invoice of work and offered it over to Admiral Walker.

She looked over it, verifying the date and mileage listed on the page. “Would you be able to email a copy of this to me?”

“Of course,” He agreed as he took the offered sheet back. He set it on top of his scanner so he’d be sure to take care of it later. As he did, Admiral Walker stood and headed toward the door. She paused to lean down and mutter something to Andrew and Hannah that seemed to sober them both up. Andrew stole fervent glances between Admiral Walker and Hannah, as if there was something more to be said, while Hannah paled and stared at the ground with wide eyes, as if the weight of the situation was finally hitting her full force. “Now then, where should we start?” He prompted.

“Let’s start on the second floor and then work our way back down. I’m sure you won’t mind if I have Fritz and Dickens keep an eye to make sure no one leaves the living room while we tour, correct? After all, I want to make sure that no one is moving anything about, just in case,” She prompted evenly.

“So long as they agree to not interact further with Katie, then yes. I don’t appreciate the attempts at intimidation the pair of them were enacting while she was with us,” He said firmly. Hannah grumbled something under her breath while Andrew glared and rose to his feet.

They walked back out to find everyone still gathered in the living room. Katie and Keith were stretched out on the ground, the sketch book between them, each coloring on a separate page. “I just have to do one last walk through of the house to assure there isn’t any kind of alien life forms hiding in here,” Admiral Walker said politely. She indicated the other two officials with a nod of her head. “They’ll be standing out here, as there’s no need for all of us to go trouncing through your home. I hope it’s acceptable to you all that I ask you stay in this room?”

Both kids lifted their heads from the drawings and looked over at the Garrison officials. “That’s fine. Anything to help you get everything figured out,” Colleen agreed while pushing herself out of her seat. “Can I get any of you a drink or small snack?” She asked politely as she moved to stand.

“We’re fine,” Andrew grumbled, his eyes swerving to Katie. He slowly narrowed them into a furious glare. Katie responded by sticking out her tongue and blowing a raspberry at him.

“Dickens, Fritz, I trust that you’ll both mind your manners and behave yourselves while I finish things up,” Walker said evenly, glaring at them both, until they met her eye. Hannah nodded and dipped her head, looking down at her hands folded before her, while Andrew wretched his gaze towards the ceiling, a displeased growl coming from him. With the two of them seemingly back in line, she returned her full attention back to Samuel. “Shall we get started, then?”

Once they disappeared up the stairs, Hannah lifted her head and looked over at Colleen. “May I actually   
take up your offer of a drink?”

“Of course. I have lemonade, water, and some juices,”

“Just water would be fine, thank you,” She said before turning to stare at the two children again. Katie blew another raspberry while Keith shirked a bit when her eyes fell to him instead. An interesting reaction, given that she had never encountered this child before, she thought. She waited until Colleen left the room before glancing back over, plastering on a small smile to hopefully seem more inviting. “Your name is Keith, right?”

He flinched and looked back up at her uneasily. He offered a shaky nod before looking back down at the page, quick to cease any kind of interaction with her. The sheer terror she’d seen in his eyes was quite the interesting response, too. He had been uncomfortable around Admiral Walker, sure, but the child hadn’t reacted nearly as visibly as he was to her own light prodding.

“That’s a nice name. How old are you, Keith?”

A small, uneasy whimper came from the child and he refused to lift his head to look at her. Katie scowled and glared up at Hannah, shifting to settle one of her hands over one of her friend’s. “Why’re you bothering him? We’re trying to color!”

“I don’t mean to be a bother. I’m simply trying to get to know him,” She said, keeping her tone polite.

“He clearly isn’t interested in getting to know you, so leave him be!” Kristen snapped angrily, causing Hannah to turn her attention to them. Ethan had one arm draped in an almost soothing manner over his wife’s shoulders, already starting to lean into her personal space in an attempt to calm her back down, while Kristen glared at her as if she’d enjoy nothing more than dragging Hannah to the ground.

_If the alien was a juvenile, it surely had to come here with at least one matured subject of the same species._

Hannah kept to polite smile on her face. “I apologize. I’m afraid I’ve never been particularly good with children, and I would hate to interrupt their play time. So, how do you all know the Holt’s?”

“Colleen and I are old friends from our school years,” Ethan supplied. Kristen’s glare became more scalding upon the inquiry, her hands gripping tight to her knees.

“Ah, how cute. Keeping up with old friends can certainly be hard when you live as far away as… I’m sorry, where did you say you were from?”

“I don’t particularly see how any of this is your business,” Colleen chimed, her tone frigid as she walked into the room. She had a small tray in her hands, with a few other glasses of drinks and a small plate of peanut butter crackers. She offered the tray to Hannah, allowing her to pluck a glass from it, before turning to set the tray on the coffee table.

“I’m simply trying to make conversation. Are you always so hostile over casual chatter?” She hummed before taking a sip of her water.

“When it involves bursting into my home, disrupting a visit with friends, and then pestering and distressing two little children? I’m far from endeared,” She said flatly, shifting to pick up two smaller glasses of lemonade and offering it to the kids. “I understand that whatever you’re here about is important and pressing, but that doesn’t excuse you prodding at Katie and Keith, clearly making them uncomfortable.”

“Thank you, Mom,” Katie said as she took the drinks. She offered the other one to Keith and he took it with shaky hands. He muttered out a small thanks of his own and Colleen handed two more drinks over to Kaoru and Ethan.

“I’m simply asking basic questions. I don’t see why the little fellow is so afraid of answer some simple questions. If you all have nothing to hide, that is,” Hannah mused lightly, her gaze shifting back over to watch Keith. Katie noticed from the corner of her eye and shifted, sitting closer to him so that Hannah couldn’t make eye contact with him.

“Keith’s got a bit of anxiety when it comes to meeting new people,” Ethan said, his own tone shifting to be a bit more firm. He was staring at the young woman as if she’d personally insulted him. Then again, she supposed that made sense of a protective father. “I’m almost certain that I mentioned that earlier but I suppose it’s hard to pay attention when you’re sulking like a child.”

She blinked then glared at him. “Excuse me?”

Ethan merely shrugged and turned his attention over to the kids as Keith approached, showing him the sketchbook. “Oh, wow, buddy! That’s a great picture of Katie!” He mused happily. Hannah carefully crept over, peering over Ethan’s shoulder at the picture. Something about the forms and ways Keith drew reminded her of the pictures she’d examined by the test subject.

She carefully crept back over to her previous perch, a smug grin turning up on her lips as her sense of confidence began to return. Andrew tossed her an inquisitive glance but she offered nothing as she awaited the sounds of footsteps on the stairs. “Well, we know that it’s highly improbable for it to be in your office, she there’s just a few other rooms downstairs to check, correct?” Admiral Walker asked as they came down.

“I don’t think you’ll need to. I’m certain that I know exactly where the subject is,” Hannah chimed, unable to keep the smug satisfaction from her tone.

“Oh? And where might that be?” Admiral Walker asked skeptically.

“Right there,” She said, pointing at Keith.

Keith visibly flinched and looked from Hannah to his parents frantically. “How _dare_ you!” Kaoru snapped as she pushed up from her seat and made a move at them.

“Good Lord, Hannah! Are you even more delusional than I thought?” Walker snapped angrily.

“It makes sense, don’t you think?” Hannah indicated Keith again and then moved to indicate Kaoru. “We come snooping about to locate a juvenile subject and the Holt’s have two guests over who happen to have a young child? A child, might I add, who is about the same size and estimated age as the subject that went missing?”

“The subject had no camouflage abilities as far as you recorded, and this child looks completely human. Far from the fluffy, purple alien life form you described,” Walker snapped back angrily, turning to speak to the Kogane’s.

“It makes sense, though!” Andrew suddenly blurted, stepping forward and rushing towards the two children. Keith seemed paralyzed by fear as the adult advanced on them quickly. “There has to be some way that he’s _hiding_ his actually appearance!”

“Dickens, _stand down now_!” Walker bellowed angrily, moving to pursue him. Ethan was also getting up, trying to skirt around the coffee table to stop him.

Katie shoved her way in front of Keith. “Leave him alone, you _big jerk_!” She shouted up at him.

“Move it, you _little brat_!” Andy growled before grabbing Katie by her shoulder and shoving her aside roughly. She stumbled and clipped into the edge of the coffee table.

Immediately, all activity halted at the loud, ear-splitting shriek that escaped Katie as she clutched her arm to herself. In a flash, Kaoru and Samuel charged forward to grab hold of Andrew and drag him out of the room and towards the entryway, a slew of swears erupting from them both. Hannah looked completely bewildered by the complete insanity taking place before her. Keith rushed over to his friend, trying to calm her down but also clearly panicking himself. “S-She’s got a really bad owie!” He proclaimed, little tears starting to crop up in the corners of his own eyes.

Colleen and Ethan were already making their way over, scooping both children up. “Katie, sweetie, let me see,” Colleen said, trying to keep from letting her own fear show. A pretty decently sized gash cut down along her arm, bleeding steadily. Ethan was right beside her, carefully helping to look it over.

“It’s a rough one. We’ll want to get this covered to try and get the bleeding under control, and she’s probably going to need some stitches,” He said quietly, surprisingly calm and collected. He most likely saw injuries similar or worse than this all the time when he was working. Katie let out a particularly distressed shriek at the mention of stitches. He winced a bit, realizing he probably should have withheld that comment, before pushing up. “The linen closet’s the first door next to the stair case, yeah?” He prompted.

Colleen nodded, carefully pulling Katie towards her and trying to whisper soft reassurances. He darted off to get a towel, throwing furious glares at the two researchers as he went. Admiral Walker had fished her phone out and was on the line with 9-1-1, getting an ambulance dispatched to the location. After that call, she made a call to someone else, though none of the other adults were paying much mind. Ethan and Colleen were set to the task of keeping the children as calm as possible while they administered whatever medical treatment they could. Meanwhile, Samuel and Kaoru kept a frazzled Andrew cornered. Once she was off the phone, Admiral Walker turned to glare at Hannah. “You’re both _finished_. _This_ … This _whole situation_ … I have no words to accurately describe it,” She seethed quietly.

A split second before the ambulance arrived, Admiral Sanda appeared with two bulkier Commanders that Sam couldn’t place and a Garrison detainment vehicle. In all their years involved with the Garrison, Samuel and Colleen had only ever seen the vehicles in their parked position, ready to go but rarely ever actually needed. The Kogane’s watched in wide-eyed bewilderment as Hannah Fritz and Andrew Dickens were read their rights, cuffed, and loaded up into the vehicle. The Holt’s were a bit more preoccupied with taking care of their daughter.

Admiral Walker approached the two families, clustered by the ambulance as one of the EMTs looked over Katie’s arm. “I’m so sorry for all of this, to both of you. I never should have trusted those two to keep their wits about them with the nonsense they were claiming,” She said, bowing her head. Her tone was drenched in sincere guilt, which offered a small bit of comfort to the Holt’s. She slowly lifted her head to look at them. “I’ll make sure they receive the most severe punishments possible, and we’ll have all medical expenses for your daughter taken care of on our end.”

“Thank you,” Samuel said with a gruff nod, one hand shakily smoothing through Katie’s hair. While she wasn’t in full hysterics now, she was still openly sobbing.

Admiral Walker nodded and glanced back over at the Kogane’s, briefly looking down at little Keith. His eyes were wide in horror, staring up at his friend with frantic concern. “I’m terribly sorry, again. I promise that, should we need to come by again while you’re in town, I’ll come on my own. Neither Fritz nor Dickens will be coming anywhere near your families as long as I am around,” She promised, the small child looking up at her briefly. She offered him a reassuring smile. “You were very brave when all that crazy stuff was happening. Both of you.” She glanced between the two as she spoke.

He blinked a bit in surprise before sniffling and offering her a small, watery smile. Katie sniffled a bit as well and nodded her head. “T-Th-Thank you,” She hiccupped.

“No, thank you, sweetheart, for being so good. I hope your arm feels better very, very soon,” She said. She gave one last nod to them all before tugging her Admiral cap back on and turning. “Get them headed back to base, _now_! I want these embarrassments handled before they can do any more damage!” She snapped angrily at Sanda and the two Commanders. Once the three of them were loaded up into the detainment vehicle, she returned to her own and followed them off.

“We need to get her back to the hospital to get the stitches taken care of,” One of the EMTs said evenly, looking between Sam and Colleen curiously.

“I’ll ride with her,” Sam insisted.

Colleen nodded and carefully got up. “I’ll lock up and follow you there,” She said softly. She was still shaking from a mix of fear and anger, but she managed to plaster on a brave face and blew Katie a quick kiss. “I’ll see you in just a little bit, Kit-Kat. I love you.”

“L-Love you,” She choked out before the doors were shut and the ambulance went barreling down the street.

A part of Ethan felt like they should excuse themselves, now that the heat had blown over with the Garrison. He was sure the Holt’s would like to go back to their normal, everyday lives sooner rather than later. But, he could also see how scared Colleen was. The idea of leaving her on her own, after all that she’d done for Keith, left a sick feeling in his stomach. He reached out and set a hand on her shoulder. “If you want, we can go with you,” He offered.

She blinked a bit, pausing to wipe at a few tears that had almost fallen and looked at him. “A-Are you sure?” She asked softly.

He nodded. “If you don’t feel right driving, Krolia or I can ride with you. She knows how to drive a car, so she can either drive yours with you, or follow with Keith in the truck,” He suggested.

“I wanna see Katie! I gotta make sure that her owie isn’t super bad!” Keith agreed eagerly, looking between all the adults with a fierce, determined gleam in his eyes.

Krolia smiled and gently pulled him against her with one hand. “Of course we’ll go see her,” She agreed. Colleen headed inside to quickly grab her purse and keys, hands shaking so bad her keys were rattling together quietly. Krolia reached over and settled one hand over hers, giving a reassuring squeeze, before gently nudging Keith of to Ethan. “You two follow us in the truck. I’ll drive you there so long as you can give me directions, Colleen.”

She blinked then sniffled a bit, offering a small but grateful smile. “Thank you,” She said softly, handing the keys over and heading over to the vehicles.

The drive was quiet, save the directions Colleen offered, but not uncomfortably so. Colleen’s trembling eased significantly as they went along, taking deep breaths and collecting herself more. Krolia couldn’t necessarily blame her for how she felt, as she’d felt it for weeks until they’d heard from the Holt’s. She’d had countless nightmares filled with unspeakable horrors befalling her baby. And, while there were things done to him, he had stayed strong and this incredibly kind family saved him from what was undoubtedly death. The least they could do was stay by and make sure that Katie was going to be just fine.

When they arrived, they were escorted to the little ER area where Katie and Sam were settled in. Katie was sitting on an exam table, legs swaying back and forth as she twirled a lollipop in her mouth, while Sam was standing beside her, chatting with the doctor. Colleen darted over and hugged her daughter tightly. “Oh, Katie!”

“Hi, Mom,” She chirped happily, her words a bit slurred by the candy in her mouth. Her eyes were still a little red from her crying, but she seemed to be fine otherwise. Her arm was wrapped up with gauze and there was a small Batman bandage a bit higher up on her arm. “My owie wasn’t bad enough to have my arm taken off. But I did get stitches.”

She chuckled a bit. “Well, I’m glad it didn’t need to get amputated, at least,” She mused before turning her attention to the doctor, as well. While they talked with the doctor about how to take care of the stitches and what to expect as it healed up, Keith walked over and peered up at her on his tip-toes, setting his hands on the exam table to help pull himself up a bit more.

"Is your arm okay? Does it still hurt?” He asked worriedly.

Katie looked at him and shrugged a bit. "It still hurts a lil, but not as bad. I was kinda hoping I'd need a new one, though,"

"A new one? Why?" He asked while cocking is head at her curiously.

"Cause then I could get a super cool robot arm!" She said enthusiastically, eyes bright as she flexed with her good arm.

"Robot arm?"

"Yeah! That has, like, a rocket booster on it! Then I could have a super rocket punch and be able to bring myself drinks super duper fast!"

His own eyes widened and a huge grin turned up on his lips. "Wow! That'd be _so cool_!"

"I know, right?" She beamed before pulling the lollipop from her mouth. She then plopped it back in her with a small hum. "I guess the lollipop is kinda nice though."

"They gave you a lollipop?"

"Mhm!"

"Lucky. Whenever I have to get looked over by a doctor, I never get a treat," He grumbled.

She looked around curiously before nodding toward the nurse standing a little bit off to the side, skimming through some documents. On the little table beside her was the small container of lollipops. "Do you want me to ask them if you can have one too?"

He followed her gaze, looking at the nurse and then looking back up at her. "Do you think they'd let me?"

"Probably if you ask nicely,"

He nodded before taking a small breath and walking over. None of the people in the hospital had seemed scary or mean. There was no reason to be afraid of them, he figured. He gently tugged on the leg of the nurse’s bright purple scrub pants. She perked up and looked down at him, a small smile turning up on her lips when she saw him. "Miss? Can I have a lollipop, please?"

"Oh, of course, darling," She giggled, setting the clipboard aside and grabbing the container. She then knelt down and pulled off the lid, holding it towards him.

His eyes lit up and he plucked out a strawberry lollipop. "Thank you so much, Miss!"

“You’re very welcome, darling,” She mused, ruffling his hair as she put the lid back on and stood upright. She perked up and smiled at the Holt’s and Kogane’s as they approached. "Your children are absolute darlings, both of them.”

"Thank you," Krolia hummed, leaning down and picking Keith up. He carefully tore the wrapper of his lollipop and licked it.

Colleen smiled at the nurse before looking between Keith and Katie, settled in her arms. "You two ready to go home?"

"Yup!" They both chimed happily.

When they arrived back at the Holt’s home, they helped the Kogane’s get settled in. The guest room Keith had been occupying housed a queen sized bed, which would be just big enough for the three of them. They determined that, just to be safe, they’d stay for a few days. Krolia and Ethan had been unable to say no when Keith asked for a little more time to spend time with his new friend. It was late afternoon, so Colleen called in an early dinner of pizza.

After dinner, Samuel set up the video game consoles in the front room for the kids. It took a bit of coaxing, but they ended up dragging Ethan and Samuel into the games as well. Katie ended up getting them into a dance game and, being the sneaky little thing she was, bumped it to a higher setting that left the two men winded and sweating, and their mothers laughing in the background. Keith and Katie were both squealing in delight as Ethan and Samuel slumped back into the couch at the end of the song, the beat slowly tapering off. “I should probably start doing cardio again,” Sam wheezed with a small laugh.

“I just need to get back into the groove of dancing,” Ethan agreed with a laugh.

“You still looked really cool, Dad,” Keith giggled as he shifted through the list of songs. “What do you guys wanna do next?”

Sam opened his mouth, preparing to politely decline, but Katie waved him over. “Or we could play another game! Have you ever played a JRPG?”

“What’s that?”

She let out a small gasp and scrambled up. “Come on, I’ll show you! I know you’re gonna like it!” She beamed before taking off for the stairs. He was just a beat behind her, the two eagerly chatting as they disappeared again.

“I need some water. Can I get one for you, Ethan?” Sam offered as he carefully pulled himself off the couch.

“Yes, thank you,” He said while shifting to sit up properly.

“I’ll get it for you,” Colleen offered, carefully slipping out of her own seat at the kitchen table.

“Thanks, honey,” Sam hummed. He settled back down next to Ethan and glanced over at him. “So you’ve got some professional dance training?”

The other man laughed a bit. “Well, not necessarily professional, but it was a hobby back when I was younger. Used to teach a volunteer youth class but it’s been a good couple of years since I’ve done any of that. Probably since I moved to Nevada, actually,” He said, letting out a long whistle at the realization.

Colleen poked her head back over and offered each of them a water bottle, then turned to look over at Krolia, holding up a bottle of Cabernet wine. "Since these two have an eye on the kids, want a drink to take some of the edge off from today’s excitement?"

She blinked a bit in surprise, golden eyes gleaming in amusement, before holding up one hand. "Oh, thank you, but I'm not a big fan of wine,"

"Oh, thank God!" She said with a relieved laugh. She turned back to the kitchen, raising her voice to be heard as she returned the bottle to the fridge. "I honestly just have it because all the Garrison big wigs are keen on it when they stop by. If you’d like, though, I’ve been known to make a pretty great margarita.”

"Oh, that sounds incredible. I can’t remember the last time I got to have a margarita,"

"Have you ever had a creamsicle margarita?"

"No, but that sounds amazing,"

While Colleen whipped up their drinks, the kids returned excitedly. Sam helped Katie set up the proper system, and then she settled in beside Keith and handed him the controller. She started running over the controls while the title scree loaded, then guided him in to selecting an empty file slot. “This’ll be your very own file that only you will be allowed to play,” Katie promised.

“Really?” Keith asked with a bright grin. She hummed and nodded as he pressed the open screen. He let out an excited little squeal before they both fell silent as the opening cut scene started up.

“You’re gonna love this game, buddy. _Travelers of the Nightscape_ is a really fun one,” Samuel chimed with a small laugh.

“Oh, man, I remember this game! I played it _all the time_ when I was in middle school!” Ethan laughed.

Sam whistled lowly. “Now you’re making me feel old; I was in _high school_ when this game came out!” He laughed. The two of them startled laughing and quietly chatting about what other video games they’d played in their youth.

Krolia perked up as a small glass, filled with a bright orange drink and a piece of orange hanging on the rim, was offered to her. "So, if you don't mind me asking, how did you and Ethan meet?" Colleen asked as she took the drink and settled back in to her previous seat.

She took a small sip of her drink and let out a quiet, pleased hum, closing her eyes at the chilled bliss. "Oh, this is _amazing_ ,” She purred softly. She licked her lips and tilted her head back a bit in thought. "That’s a fun story to tell. The whole situation is still highly classified, so I'm afraid I'll have to be vague with a good portion of it. I was sent here on a mission to see if something important had come to Earth. When I was coming in, though, I accidentally knocked into a jagged peak out in the desert. The ship crashed and Ethan found me."

"Did you have your camouflage device back then?" Colleen asked in surprise, plucking the slivered orange from the rim of her glass and taking a bite out of the fruit slice.

She nodded. "Yes, but I wasn't wearing it at the time," She paused to pluck her own sliver of orange off and tugging out a small bite of her own. The fruit was fresh and juicy, but also had a bit of tang from some margarita salt getting wedged into it. "He took me home and tended the injuries I sustained. Took the whole ‘alien from another galaxy’ pretty well, too; even when I held a knife to his throat and threatened to end him." That earned a small laugh from Colleen, and she ended up releasing a few giggles of her own. "He helped me get my ship repaired, as well as find what I'd come out here for. Falling in love with him happened gradually, over the two or so years we were trying to track the aforementioned object, but he just felt right for me. And when we had Keith, well... I felt good. To have a family of my own.”

“Do you not have an extended family?”

“I have two brothers, but our mother and father died when we were all still relatively young. And, even then, we’re not typically able to see each other that often, given our respective mission and positions within the Blade of Marmora,” She said. “I never really planned to have children because I didn’t think it’d be a possibility. But now… Well, Keith’s my whole world. I don’t think I’ve ever loved someone as much as I love him.”

“It’s amazing, isn’t it? How much these little stinkers grow on us?” Colleen teased, taking another sip of her own drink. “See, I wish Sam and I met through something even half as exciting. We were in the same Engineering class our freshmen year, but I missed a few days because of the flu, so I had to get the notes from someone else in class. Sam was the first person to respond to the email I sent out to all our classmates and things just sort of went from there.”

“That’s sweet, though,” Krolia cooed, finishing off her orange slice. An excited shout came from the children flowed by the boisterous laughter of the men. She smiled, a warm feeling blossoming in her chest that had nothing to do with the liquor. She often wondered what it would be like, to leave the Blade and live on Earth. She wondered if Keith would enjoy some of the Earth holidays that Ethan had taught her a little bit about. Before, she thought that it’d be dull for him, living in the desert, but if they could find a way to secure the Blue Lion’s resting place wouldn’t be easily found, perhaps they could consider relocating?

The suburbs the Holt’s lived in certainly seemed peaceful, and they’d already found friends here. There was certainly a fire station around here that Ethan could find work in. With a bit of help in fabricating the records, too, she was certain she could get a decent job and enroll Keith in a school program. Would he make more friends? Perhaps befriend Katie’s older brother, Matt, too. They could have weekly cookouts with the Holt’s, swapping stories and sipping drinks like tonight, while the kids played in the yard or played video games together. She’d always dreamed of what a peaceful, domestic life could be like with Ethan on Earth, about how lovely it would be to always be together.

But then she remembered how import her work for the Blade was.

So many times she’d entertained the idea of just leaving the war behind, but the thoughts of how many people suffered under the hands of the Empire always kept her from deserting. Their numbers were so small already that her contributions held significance. Sure, locating and protecting the Blue Lion was important, but Earth was such a small planet that received no attention from the Empire, it’s security was practically guaranteed. Sure, she was able to use verifying its security as an excuse to bring Keith back to visit his dad every summer, but she knew that wouldn’t last forever; especially considering Keith would soon be old enough to officially start his training. Once he became dedicated and started taking on missions, it’d be unlikely that they’d be able to visit Earth any more, but she didn’t much care for those thoughts.

Instead, she opted to sip her drink and enjoy the time getting to know the Holt’s, reveling in her son’s excited chatter.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Admiral Walker calmly pushed the papers in front of Fritz, noticing how completely devastated the woman looked but not commenting on it. They’d been having the same back and forth since they returned from the Holt’s house; Hannah insisting that the test subject was at their house and that Katie had been lying. Admiral Sanda had been primarily dealing with her for the last thirty minutes, as Walker herself had been having a conversation with Dickens. He’d eagerly signed the papers once she informed him that there’d be charges for assaulting a minor slapped on to him, but that she’d see about having it all settled privately if he just signed the papers.

Omitting the fact that she hadn’t discussed any of that with Samuel was unimportant; with the documents signed, she had full control of the situation going forward.

She shifted in her seat and squared her shoulders, taking on a pose that clearly articulated that she meant business. Hannah cast a glance from the papers, then back up at the older woman. “That child is the test subject. I don’t know how he disguised himself, but I _know_ that it’s him,” She insisted for the umpteenth time in the last few hours.

“That is _enough_ for your insane babblings,” Sanda growled lowly, not bothering to mask the disgust in her voice. She’d been clearly going too easy on the young woman, listening to her and trying to calmly dissuade her of her delusions. At least her pity had worn down and she was letting her frustration show. “Your false accusations caused Dickens to completely lose his mind and for an innocent young girl to be _injured_! Just because you’re a Garrison employee _does not_ put you _above reproach_!”

“Just bring him in here and have him examined! Dickens had the research code branded on his hip! If you would just _check the child_ for any serialization marks-!”

“ _That’s enough_!” Walker roared, slamming one fist down against the table and rising. Her chair clattered loudly behind her as it toppled over on the floor. Fritz flinched while Sanda held her hands up, preparing to grab the other Admiral is needed. “You won’t be using your supposed ‘victimhood’ as an excuse to do whatever you want any more! You’ve done _nothing_ but walk around these halls, _pretending_ you’ve accomplished something _worth a damn_! You’ve done _nothing_ to actually earn your position! Now if you want to be able to walk out of this building with _any_ amount of dignity or a chance to start again somewhere else, you’ll _sign the damn papers_!”

Fritz stared up with wide eyes, filled with fear and panic, and for a moment she didn’t seem like the researcher she was. No, for a moment all Admiral Sanda saw was the same young cadet that had come into her office, a similar expression on her face. She remembered the initial conversations after Hannah came forward, terrified and jittery, to tell them about what happened between herself and Commander Hammond. She remembered how she’d reached out to Admiral Walker for help. From there, the deal had been struck between the two women that for Hannah’s silence she’d be given a high-ranking position in the area of her choice upon graduation. The deal had never sat well with Sanda herself, out of fear of how it could later effect Hannah later down the line, but she’d bit her tongue and watched everything occur.

“Make your choice _now_ ,” Walker said flatly, leaning over to level her glare right in her face, “or I’ll make it _for you_.”

“Fine!” Hannah blurted, snatching up the pen and scribbling at the line on the bottom of the page. “So what should I be expecting now?” She choked out, taking a shaky breath.

Admiral Walker calmly picked the clipboard up and rose, looking at Admiral Sanda and then indicating the door with a nod of her head. “A few members of the Garrison legal team will be coming in and going over the full details regarding the agreement you’ve signed. I’d say that it’s been a pleasure, but… Well, that would just be a lie. I certainly hope you take something away from this situation and learn from it.” She then walked out, Sanda just a few steps behind her. Outside the room stood a four members of the on-location medical staff. “How did things go with Dickens?” She asked.

“Once we sedated him, it was easy going,” Stated one of the team. Sanda blinked and looked between them curiously. “Where would you like us to place him?”

“There’s a small center in the Colorado mountains; secluded and calm. Send him there,” She said as she handed the clipboard over. The medical staff member looked over the page and then nodded. “As for this one… Send her as far off and isolated as you can get. This whole situation was all her doing in the first place.”

“Understood,” They agreed before motioning the team inside.

“What are they doing?” Sanda asked uncertainly.

“Dickens and Fritz are clearly a risk to not only themselves but to others as well. The fact that Dickens viciously attacked a grade schooler over their delusions only shows they cannot be trusted to be left to their own devices,” She said while turning and starting down along the hallway. Sanda followed after her like a duckling with their mother. “They’ll be sent to treatment centers, where they can get the help they need, as well as be kept from causing trouble for us here.”

“ _That’s_ what they agreed to in the paperwork?”

“Of course. The document they signed was an acknowledgement of their mental incapacity. As such, they were granting me power of attorney to determine how things go forward with them,” She explained with a calm wave of her hand, as if the matter were trivial. “We can’t have people like this associated with us or wandering around in the general public.”

“This… Doesn’t seem right,”

Walker stopped short and turned to look over at her, expression grim. “Being an Admiral isn’t an easy job, as I’m sure you’re aware. Part of that is taking action in situations such as this. Will they be displeased once they realize what’s actually happening? Of course. That’s why we’ve brought in the medical team to assist with their relocation, as they’ll most likely need to be drugged. You have to crack a few eggs to make an omelet, after all,” She explained calmly. Sanda looked at her and then back down again, still seeming unsure. “Sanda, I know it’s difficult, but these are the responsibilities of our title. I know you’ll come to understand what I mean, exactly, in due time. Now come along. We need to finish drafting up the report to show to the higher-ups when they get in.”

Sanda cast one last glanced down the hallway at the loud, furious shout that escaped from the interrogation room, then hurriedly along after Admiral Walker.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Kogane’s ended up staying for a full four days. They didn’t do a whole lot between Krolia’s anxiety with crowds and Katie’s arm needing to be treated delicately, but they did end up going to play at a miniature golf course. They couldn’t do the laser tag event, but they still had a lot of fun with the race cars, bumper boats and mini golf itself. Krolia had to admit the activities were helpful at relieving some of the stress from the Garrison’s investigation, and a part of her had loved watching her son get to do something more recreational.

That morning, they had breakfast and packed their truck up with their small things, swapping hugs and handshakes. Katie scuffled her feet sadly, looking from the toe of her slipper to Keith. “What’s wrong?” He asked worriedly, cocking his head.

“’M sad cause I’m never gonna see you again,” She mumbled.

He blinked, eyes widening a bit, before shaking his head. “You’ll see me again! We’re friends!” He insisted.

“But you live in space!”

“But we come back in the summer! We could come visit again next summer!” He said, looking from her up to his parents pleadingly. “We could, couldn’t we?”

Krolia and Ethan exchanged looks before Krolia let out a little hum. “Well, I suppose that we could, once we’ve had some family time,” She suggested.

Keith and Katie both let out excited squeals, grabbing one another’s hands and jumping up and down. “We can play video games! And watch movies!”

“And go play mini golf again! And make smores!”

“Wait,” Katie gasped with wide eyes. “Do you think we could use the rocket boosters from your ship to make smores?”

Keith’s yellow eyes widened before he lifted his head to look up at his mother pleadingly. She laughed and ruffled his hair. “Maybe we can plan for them to come visit our house and we can test that theory,” She mused lightly, delighting in the enthusiastic cheers her suggestion awarded her.

Ethan nodded and smiled at the other parents. “We’ll get in touch once they come back to town, and coordinate from there,” He suggested.

“Excellent! Be safe getting home,” Samuel agreed.

“We will,” He mused, shaking his hand one last time.

Krolia and Colleen exchanged one last quick hug. “Thank you again, for everything you’ve done for us,” Krolia said quietly.

“It’s been our pleasure,” She said back as they released each other.

The Holt’s stood and waved as the truck pulled out and drove away, Katie darting down along the driveway and waving until it disappeared, already excited about what kind of adventures Keith would tell her about next time they met.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was nine years before Katie Holt heard anything from Keith Kogane again.


	5. Chapter One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are rumblings of great and terrible troubles on the horizon for the galaxy, felt by all those involved in the conflict. The only problem now, though, is that this trouble is leaking into a planet with no knowledge of what's going on. Or, rather, almost no knowledge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cautionary Warning: Mentions of Torture and Minor Gore

The low lighting of the medical wing was always hard to adapt to, especially when compared to the blaze of the arena. He always hated when he was sent to transfer captives from the medical wing back to their cells. Somehow it always turned out to be more difficult than transferring them from the medical wing to the mortuary. When they went to the morgue, there was a sense of relief that their pain was all over. When they went back to their cells, it meant they’d spent some time with the druids in preparation for another round in the arena.

And he wouldn’t wish a trip to the druids on even the most loathsome of creatures he’d encountered in his life.

When he walked in, he spotted their most recent subject stretched out on one of the exam tables. What first caught him, was the pale skin of the other. It was free of any bumps, scales, fur, carrying only small barely-healing marks from the bout in the arena, most likely left over from their recent encounter with the druids. The druids tended to only heal the most dire of injuries while leaving the smaller ones be. He had learned that they loved it when their subjects had received egregious wounds that allowed them to make drastic “upgrades” to their forms; especially with creatures from planets far off and unknown. It was uncommon to see a creature like this so far out in the galaxies, so far away from their own, but he was familiar with this race. “A human,” He breathed, stepping closer with one hand cautiously lifted as he got a better look.

There was a long, angry red gauge over his nose, tracing from below one eye and straight across under the other, smaller at the ends and wider along his nose itself. It had clearly been given the bare minimum in regards to medical treatment to keep it from getting infected and making him sick, but not enough to lighten any potential scar it could leave. He then glanced over to see that their right arm, from about the middle of their upper arm down, was all replaced with a new Galran prosthetic. “I take it you understand why you’ve been assigned here,” A voice from behind chided, looking through a collection of vials ona  small table.

He spun around and flashed them the expected salute. “Vrepit sa,” He said, making sure to cover his bases, just in case. This medical office was typically kept clear of any bugs or wires, but he supposed it’d be better to be aware. After a quick scan, seeing the door was shut and they were the only two present, he dropped the stance. “What are the specifics as of now?”

"From what our intelligence is showing, this human is of interest to Emperor Zarkon. Specifically in that they want him dead," The other explained, plucking up a vial and syringe. He filled the needle up and then headed back over to the prone, unconscious human.

He looked away as the other injected the needle into a vein. "Why is that?"

"As of now, we are unsure. For now, offer him what little help that you can without revealing anything," He said as he finished up with injecting whatever it was and carefully extracted the needle again. "I'll be sure to keep you informed as more information becomes available. For now, assuring the human's survival is our mission; you, in specific, due to your knowledge involving humans and their limitations."

"Seems strange that he wants this one in specific dead. Wasn't this human brought in with two others?"

"Yes, but the pair of them have been sent away. Useful to the Empire in some regard, but frail enough they pose no threat or entertainment value," He returned the needle to the table before grabbing a small wipe. He returned and lightly dabbed at the small, pinprick of blood from where the needle had been inserted. "The human we are to monitor was sent to the colosseum with the plan of being fodder for Myzak. He, however, survived. Upon his medical examination by the druids and Zarkon's witch, something... Interesting was discovered."

"And what was that?"

"We are still unsure as to the specifics, but whatever it was has piqued the Empire’s ire,"

His brow knit and he scowled, ears tipping back in slight frustration. "You're assigned to the medical ward. How can you be unsure about what they found?"

The other glared at him over his shoulder. "If I go snooping around in files I am restricted from, I'll only attracted attention. This assignment  _ cannot  _ become compromised,"

"But if they want him dead-!"

"I have given you all the pertinent information you should need for this. Additionally, you've been given your orders, kit; I expect you to follow through,"

The two stared each over down for a moment, glowering. His own tail was lashing behind him like mad before his eyes wandered back over to the prone human on the table. What threat could this human possible pose? Earth wasn’t a particularly advanced race in regards to travel, hence why he and his team’s arrival had been such a point of interest. Unless… He sucked in a breath at a thought, long forgotten in the many years since last he’d been to Earth.

Was it possible this human had something to do with the secret treasure tucked away on Earth? And, if that was the case, wouldn’t getting him back to Earth be their best bet at taking down Zarkon and his forces? There was only so much they’d be able to do from the sidelines. But if this human was who he thought he was, he’d be the first link in the chain to get some real momentum going in the war.

But he knew that the others wouldn’t see it that way. So he’d have to bide his time for a while.

He nodded and flashed the salute again. "Understood,"

\------------------------------------------------------------------------

It took a few seconds of shuffling and rearranging to make sure that everything she might need was tucked away in her bag before she slipped into the hallway, scanning the area around her before starting to move along. She’d gotten familiar with all the back exits and entrances to the facility at this point, including how to pull down the fire escape ladder to the roof. She had developed a device that temporarily silenced the alarm on the door so she could come and go as she pleased. She scampered up eagerly, having to be careful to not get off-balanced by how heavy her backpack was when she hoisted herself up to reach the first step. The ladder didn’t reach the ground proper, instead hovering a few feet above the ground, so it required a bit of work on her part to hoist herself up.

She had learned from multiple spills to make sure to account for the backpack knocking her equilibrium off.

Once she pushed the door open and poked her head out, she let out a small sigh at the brief gust of air that hit her. It was hot and humid as it whipped through the short strands of hair that tickled the back of her neck but a small part of her found it more comforting than the stale and chilled air down below. She took a moment to take in the desert before them, the sun dipped behind the mountains and casting pale orange, pink and yellow outlines along the mountain scape, where it rose to bleed into the inky hues of the falling night sky. She’d never been a huge fan of the outdoors, but she’d grown fond of her little roost up on the roof in the last few months. There were no stars in the sky yet, but that was fine for her. It would give her time to get her equipment set up without needing the assistance of her flashlight.

She headed over to her usual perch and unloading her things, ignoring the little name tag of “Pidge Gunderson” as it clacked along with the zipper.

She had her computer and sonar reader set up when she fished out her headphones. She plopped them on after setting up sonar on the small, rotating tripod, listening for anything unusual. The last few nights had yielded some interesting results. She then pulled out her notebook, flipped to a clean page, and fished out her small rubber-banded cluster of colorful pens. She tapped the page with the end of her pen as she listened, hoping to pick up a note of anything she’d been catching on to over the last few nights, closing her eyes.

There was a small crackling noise and one of her headphones shifted, followed by a whispered, "Come up here to rock out?"

She jumped and shrieked, whipping around to face the figure squatting behind her. She pressed a hand to her chest and groaned quietly, tipping her head back. "Oh, it's just you guys," She mumbled, shifting her attention when she saw movement from the corner of her eye. "Please don’t touch that, Hunk."

The male in question froze mid reach and slumped back, resting in a squatting position and rolling back to rest on the heels of his feet. She blinked and cocked her head when she noticed the yellow shirt and olive vest he was wearing.

Oh,  _ great _ . It was one of  _ those _ nights.

Lance was opening his mouth to speak as she turned to look back over at her notes. “I’m not interested,” She said as she turned to the notes she’d managed to get a few nights back, skimming through for any pertinent information. What little she’d got had been choppy, but she’d been able to pick up two codes series that seemed significant: 65FG3 and H4FT07. She’d tried looking for any information with those codes in them through the Garrison’s files, but had come up empty handed.

Which, as far as she was concerned, could only mean one thing.

“Pidge,  _ come on _ ! We need some guy time! Go into town, get some grub, hit on some girls!  _ Girls _ , dude!” Lance sputtered frantically. She slowly quirked an eyebrow at him, her lips twisting down in a scowl. “Or dudes, if that’s what you’re in to! I’ll have you know that I’m quite the skilled wingman, regardless of what kind of specimen you’re looking to hit.” He said, waggling his eyebrows and winking as he spoke.

“Define both ‘skilled’ and ‘wingman’, please,” Hunk scoffed from his position, leaning over and reaching towards the still whirling sonar device.

“ _ Hunk _ ,” She trailed out with an exhausted sigh. Why couldn’t they just leave her alone so she could work? Did whatever forces were at work just want her to fail?

Lance let out an insulted harrump at the other’s jab but was ignored. He let out a small hum, his hand pausing mid-reach, before shifting a bit closer to peer around her at the readings the sonar was picking up on. “Pretty extensive setup. Where did you get it all?" He asked, his hand starting to creep back over towards the monitor attached to the sonar.

"I just said  _ don't touch it _ ," She huffed, reaching up to set her headphones aside, "and I built it myself. I've equipped it to pick up radio frequencies from far distances; even as far as beyond Earth's atmosphere." She couldn’t keep a smug, satisfied grin from turning up on her lips. It had taken her ages and less-than-savory means to get all the parts she needed, but she was rather impressed with her handiwork. She could have done a bit more with the harddrive in her laptop if she could have snuck past Commander Iverson that afternoon in the tech lab, but it still did much more than she realistically needed it to.

Lance leaned over her, hunching a bit and tilting his head. "Oh yeah? Can it reach as far as, say, Kerberos?" There was a knowing edge to his tone, and though a part of her had expected it, she still felt her whole body go slack at the thought. That seemed to be enough to confirm his suspicions as he clicked his tongue and stood upright again. "Man, what is  _ with  _ you whenever that project gets mentioned?"

She bristled and glared at him over her shoulder. "It's  _ none  _ of your  _ business _ !"

"Uh, guys?" Hunk attempted to chime in, most likely wanting to stop the argument before it had even started. She’d noticed how he tended to get anxious when it came to conflict.

Too bad for Hunk, Lance had decided to go for a low blow.

"No, dude, you need to  _ chill out _ ! Iverson's got his eye set on  _ you _ , which means he's got an eye set on  _ all three of us _ !"

Hunk dragged one hand over his face, peering at them between his fingers, before his gaze flickered back over to the sonar monitor. "Lance, Pidge... You guys, something-!"

"It  _ does not _ !"

" _ Guys _ !"

"Yes,  _ it does _ ! We're supposed to be a  _ team _ ! Which means when  _ one _ of us mucks it up,  _ all _ of us muck it up!"

"Guys! There's something going on!" Hunk blurted out, pointing at the readings frantically. He may not know exactly what Pidge had set his equipment up to do, but he certainly knew what it looked like when a device was picking something up. Neither of them paid him any mind though, far too focused on their debate over what was and wasn’t share-worthy information. Out of desperation, he snatched up the headphones again and plopped them over Pidge’s ears for him. He may have said he didn’t want Hunk touching his gear, but surely he’d be cool with that, he figured.

"I said  _ don’t _ -!" She started to snarl, but cut herself off as the same vice she’d heard a few nights ago cut through the static.

_ "... Escaped facility 65FG3... Took prisoner H4FT07... Crash imminent…  Earth… Searching… Marmora," _

Her heart leapt into her throat at the garbled, staticy message. "Marmora?" She mumbled, her mind wandering back to a summer from her youth, sitting in front of bullet-proof glass with a sketchbook and some markers. She hurriedly started unpacking her gear and shoving it back into her bag. "We need to track that aircraft and get to the crash site before the Garrison!"

Hunk let out a nervous laugh as she hoisted her bag over her shoulder. "Why would we do that?"

"And aren't  _ we _ technically part of the Garrison ourselves?" He scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest and cocking one hip. Rather than take the time to answer him proper, Pidge just rushed past him for the latch to get going. "Dude, wait up!"

"Uh, Lance, we aren't  _ seriously _ going along with this, are we?" Hunk asked, catching the other’s arm before he had a chance to give chase.

The other offered a huge grin, blue eyes gleaming bright with mischievous delight. "We need to work on our team work! What could be a better team building exercise than investigating a foreign aircraft crash and then reporting it in to the higher ups?"

Hunk let out a small whine before begrudging following the other over to the hatch. "I was afraid you'd say that,"

Pidge headed for the vehicle hanger immediately, her pulse pounding in her ears. She’d need to find a way to get one of the vehicles up and running, so that she could get to the site. She should be able to use her sonar to track the ship’s trajectory once it broke the atmosphere, if she recalibrated it just a bit. That wouldn’t be too difficult, though; she had the necessary component in the front pouch of her bag.

The closer they got to the hanger, the more quiet and careful they had to move. The places was crawling with officers darting to and fro, most likely having picked up on the same frequencies that she had. She scoffed as she watched a brown-haired pilot bark at one rookie to get Iverson up to speed and another to go issue the official lockdown procedure. The Garrison was always such an interesting beast to observe when things went wrong; seeing how the officers and commanders would run around like ants after the first droplet from a rainstorm.

It certainly made sneaking past them and into the hanger just a little bit easier.

They clung to the far walls, where it would be harder for their movements to be noticed and tracked. Thankfully enough, the main operators were too frazzled to be doing a particularly thorough check for any wayward cadets. The only problem that Pidge could see with this position, was that it placed them on the far end from the air cruisers, which would have been a better option for travel. Sure, they could only carry a single person per cockpit, but she figured she’d be better handling the situation on her own than with the Tagalong Twins.

She didn’t dislike Hunk or Lance, really, but they just weren’t very good at accomplishing goals.

She looked around and then spotted one of the buggies used for short distances parked nearby, still left wide open. With any luck, there’d be keys inside. She scrambled into the passenger’s side seat as two officers darted by the front of it, then leaned over to peer at the ignition switch. “Damnit,” She hissed at the empty slot.

Lance clamored in to the driver’s side and cracked his fingers. "You have a screwdriver handy?” He asked, holding a hand out to her expectantly as he examined the ignition switch. When she didn’t immediately offer one up, he waggled his fingers a bit to get her attention again.

“Oh, yeah,” She shook her head before opening her bag and rummaging through. While she fished it out, Hunk crawled into the back row of seats and ducked down, pressing himself as flat against the row as he could. She couldn’t necessarily blame him; none of this had been in his plans for the night.

“Thank you,” Lance hummed as he took the tool, then wedged it into the ignition. It took him a moment of finagling before the vehicle purred to life and he offered a smug, satisfied grin. "Tah dah!"

"You know how to hotwire cars?" She asked in surprise as the rest of the vehicle features kicked into life. She reached over and selected the option that would seal it off again.

"I am a man of many talents, my dear Pidge. You'll grow to admire all of them in time," He preened as he hit the gas and sent the buggie screeching across the slick floors. The smell of burning rubber was immediately and she just knew there would be angry, black marks left behind.

It was gonna suck to be whoever had to clean that up.

"Driving clearly isn’t one of them,” She snorted at him. He glared at her but she opted to ignore him, instead turning to peer over her shoulder at the unnerved lump curled up on the back seat. "How’re you holding up back there, Hunk?"

He peered up at her, looking rather pale. "Why can’t either of you have  _ normal _ ideas of things to do for team building?"

She offered him a small smile before turning and fishing out her sonar. She started to try to get the necessary adjustments figured out, but it was difficult. The passenger side seat was a bit cramped, making working difficult, and then the fact it was all closed off made it even worse. She gave up and simply set the sonar up for listening, plopping her headphones back on and dropping the protective casing around the buggie to give her a bit more range, holding the sonar up and manually moving it to get a reading. It was hard, but she picked the signal back up to the southwest of the base, towards the farther stretches of desert.

They must be tracking to make sure they landed somewhere somewhat safe, she surmised.

They drove for a straight half hour before they saw the flicker of light from above, like a shooting star streaking a bright white path across the sky, right above their heads. Lance swerved with a swear, spinning around and nearly sending the buggie rolling over in a spray of sand. They watched as the ship crashed a few yards away, right into a small ravine between two large dunes, the ground shaking beneath them from the impact.

Hunk leaned over the side of the vehicle and retched violently. “You okay there, buddy?” Lance asked with a small, nervous smile.

“ _ You guys suck _ ,” He wheezed out in response. Pidge rummaged through her back and offered him a small Hershey bar she had stashed, hoping it’d help get some of the weird taste out of his mouth. “Thanks.” He grumbled as he settled back in, taking a small nibble from it. She nodded at him before facing forward as Lance slowly started moving forward again.

He parked the buggie along the dune closest to them and pulled out the screwdriver, but kept one hand firmly wrapped around it. Most likely planned to use it for defense if they were met with hostility. She climbed out and headed to the top of the dune without waiting for the two of them, settling down on her belly, propping her head up using her backpack as a pillow of sorts, and peered over cautiously.

The ship was unlike any she’d seen before. It was a made of a pale purple-silver kind of metal, with red lights along the one intact wing and what little was left of the other. The damaged wing was smoldering, smoke pluming from what was left. Judging by the intact one, roughly half of the thing was missing. She realized, however, that the wing damage didn’t look like a clean shot.

Perhaps the damage had occurred while entering the atmosphere?

There was a quiet rustling beside her as Hunk and Lance settled in on either side of her. "Wow... That's  _ definitely _ not a Garrison ship. Doesn’t look like any kind of ship any other nation would make, either,"

"I mean, unless it's a ship for an underground operation or something like that," Hunk suggested.

"No, it's from space. I know it is," Pidge scoffed.

"Oh yeah? How's that? Been abducted before or something?" Lance snorted.

"No, but I did help save an alien when I was a kid," She said with a shrug, starting to unzip her bag again.

The other two cadets exchanged looks over her ducked head, having an entire conversation through the shifting of eyebrows and mouthed words. " _ Okay _ , so you're  _ completely nuts _ .  _ Got it _ ," He drawled sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

She looked up at him incredulously. " _ I'm _ nuts? Are you just  _ not  _ seeing the _ clearly alien spacecraft  _ right there?"

"Guys! Look!" Hunk whispered, pointing as a quiet hissing noise came from below. Their eyes swiveled down as the hatch of the ship opened, revealing a hooded figure in pure black. They scrambled out, face covered in what appeared to be a face guard with two large, glowing purple eye holes and two whisker-esque marks along where the cheeks would be. From this distance and angle, though, she couldn’t really make out any other fine details. The hooded figure approached the damaged wing, examining it as best as they could without touching it, before they released a series of what she could only assume were swears in their native tongue.

It didn’t sound anything like any language she’d heard before.

Lance gulped audibly. "Wow... Okay, yeah. Maybe you're onto something here, Pidge,"

“Yeah, you think?" She scoffed, reaching back into her bag and fishing out her binoculars. She carefully adjusted the settings to accomodate for the lack of light. "Okay, let's see what we're dealing with here." She grumbled, zooming in on the figure still cursing out the busted wing. She could see four more marks on either side of the chest plate that also glowed purple. Seemingly satisfied with their tantrum, they turned and looked back over at the cockpit, starting to approach it again. She zoomed in on the exposed cockpit and gasped at the slumped figure they started reaching towards. "There's someone else with them but... I think they’re a human."

"What? Let me see!" Lance gasped, snatching her binoculars from her and watching as the hooded figure carefully began hoisting the other body out. " _ Holy crow _ ! That's  _ Takashi Shirogane _ ! That dude's my  _ hero _ !"

Hunk cocked his head, scowling in confusion. "But... Wasn't he killed on the Kerberos mission with the rest of the crew?"

"No, he  _ wasn't _ . Because the crew  _ wasn't killed _ !" Pidge snapped at him while swiping her binoculars back from Lance. She stuffed them back into her bag before sitting up and slipping the bag back on. "I'm going down there to see if I can help."

She ignored the quiet but frantic calls of her teammates and scrambled over the slope, carefully making her way down. It was hard to move around due to how loose the sand was, but she managed to keep herself upright the whole way down. Now that she was a bit closer, she could see two belts looped around their waist. One was slimmer and seemed more decorative, while the other had a few pouches and a small dagger attached. She watched as the figure carefully hoisted Shirogane out and set him against a nearby rock, kneeling down briefly to get a better look at him. She herself was on even ground again, just a few feet away from them, and could see a long, jagged scar along the bridge of his nose and a shock of white hair hanging over his forehead, dangling just above his eyes.

She knew for a fact that those hadn’t been there before the mission.

She shifted to move closer, aiming to go slow, but the hooded figure suddenly shot up and whirled around to face her. She froze where she stood, starting to figure out a proper introduction, but they all left her mind when they came hurling for her. She let out a small squeak and dodged aside just as they made to swipe at her with their dagger. They were fast, though, and rebounded much quicker than she could. In one smooth, whirl of motion, they seized her arm and pulled her towards them, pressing their blade against her throat so close that she feared that breathing to sharp or deep would cut her.

"Who sent you?" They ground out, their voice a little warbled by the mask. Most likely had some kind of voice modifier, for security purposes or something.

She swallowed very carefully, trying to shift back just the slightest bit. They tightened their grip on her arm in warning. "No one sent us. We came to help,"

" _ We _ ?" They snarled angrily.

"Please, I know you may not believe me, but we aren't going to hurt you. We want to help you," She reiterated, trying to remain calm. She glanced at the dagger then back up to the glowing eyes of the mask. "You're not bad. If you're with the Blade of Marmora, I know you're not bad."

A sharp gasp came from them at that. "You," They breathed, disbelief evident in their tone. She couldn’t really blame them, though. She recalled her childhood friend mentioning that the only aliens that had ever really been to Earth or communicated with humans were himself and his mother. It must be a bit jarring for this alien that a primitive life form like her would know of his alliances. They stared at her for a moment longer, before looking over their shoulder at Shirogane’s slumped form behind them, then relaxed a bit. They released their grip on her arm and took a step back, returning their blade to their belt. "He's very important. He needs to be taken somewhere safe, away from the Garrison. But my ship is too damaged."

She reached up and rubbed at her neck gently, relieved to find it free of any cuts. "Okay. We have a vehicle and we can figure out a safe place to hide out once we get settled in there," She said, clearing her throat a bit to get rid of some of the tremor. She then turned and looked up at the top of the dune, knowing the other’s would still be there even if she couldn’t see them. "Lance, Hunk! Come on down and give us a hand!"

Lance sputtered as he poked his head up, shaking the fist holding the screwdriver at her over the edge. "Pidge, what the  _ Hell _ ? Don't just go shouting our names all wily-nily like that!" Despite his protests, he still started heading down, with Hunk pressed right up behind him, clutching the back of his coat like Lance would be able to protect them.

"Pidge?" The alien asked, the slightest hint of what she could only call amusement in their tone.

"Oh, yeah. That's my name. This is Lance," She said, indicating them as they reached them, "and this is Hunk. And you are?"

They shifted to, as far as she could assume, stare at her for a moment before nodding his head back towards Shiro and indicating Hunk. "Big guy, come help me get him up the ravine,"

Hunk looked between Lance and Pidge anxiously, clearly uncomfortable with the idea. “You know, Pidge just told you our names. You could at least  _ pretend  _ to care about them,” Lance scoffed and followed them over to Shirogane’s prone body, pulling one of his arms over his own shoulders while the Marmora member took the other side.

“Look, we have to get out of here before your government starts snooping around,” They snapped back as they started to head up towards the ravine.

“Well, what are we supposed to do about your ship, then?” Hunk asked.

“I’ve already got that handled. Now move,” They said with a nod of their head towards the top of the ravine. Pidge went up first, making sure the vehicle was still open and helping to usher them in. Hunk helped with getting Shirogane inside, the unconscious form taking the center of the back column with Hunk settled in by the window. She turned to ask the alien about what to do with their ship, when they pulled what appeared to be a small, rectangular screen from one of their pouches. They carefully clacked away at it before swiping on something, and then a crackling noise gave from the ravine. Pidge and Lance darted over to look over the edge of ravine, watching as the ship began to crumble and crunch in on itself until there was nothing but a few nuts and bolts left in the sand.

The two slowly turned to watch as the alien slipped the device back into its pouch. “What did you just do?” Lance choked out.

“The cores of those ships are designed with small, self-destruction devices in them that allow for the complete destruction of the ship. It tends to be used when the Galra are enacting a hostile takeover; they can take smaller, portable communication devices, get rid of the evidence of their ship, and then observe the inhabitants of the planet. Pick up on routines and plan the most effective approach to bringing them down,” They explained as they walked back over to the buggie.

The two humans exchanged uncertain glances at the words. “Just remember that picking this guy up was  _ your idea, _ ” Lance warned. With that said, he headed back over to the buggie, clamoring into the driver’s seat again. The Marmora member had settled into the back seat, settled beside Shiro, so she took the shotgun seat again.

Once she was settled in, she started to rummage through her bag, making sure she’d tossed her wallet inside. She grinned when she saw it, then pulled out her computer and pulled up a search engine. “Okay, we can’t go back to the base, but we need to find some place to stay for at least the night. There’s a couple of motels out past that little town a few miles off from base. I’ll check rates and see what we can get,” She hummed.

“But how are we supposed to pay? We don’t have any money,” Hunk pointed out worriedly.

“I have a credit card we can use. As long as I can explain why I used it, there won’t be any trouble,” She said with a small laugh. Aside from the soft clack of her fingers over the keys of her laptop, there was no sound in the vehicle. Lance, unsure of what else to do, had at least started the vehicle back up and started driving around. He headed in the direction of town, but made sure to go the long and far, trying to avoid any run in with the Garrison officials that would most likely be heading to the crash site. The air felt tense but she tried her best to ignore it, focusing instead on finding a place. “Ah! Here we go!” She said happily.

“Where am I going?” Lance asked.

“Tumbleweed Inn. They’re one of those places that offers weekly lodging, so they should have a room that’ll be big enough for all of us,” She said.

“Can’t we just get, like, two rooms?” Hunk asked, peering over Shiro’s head, which had rolled to rest against his shoulder, at the Marmora member sitting on the other side of the vehicle. The other turned so they were looking at Hunk - or, assumedly looking at him, since the mask hid their eyes - and the other tensed up and averted his gaze.

“I’d prefer if we all roomed together. Your offer of help is kind, but that doesn’t prove I can trust all of you. Especially not with how important this one is,” They said, indicating Shiro with one hand.

“So, what? You think you need to babysit us?” Lance scoffed, peering at them through the rear view mirror.

“That’s an acceptable way to put it, I suppose,” They said.

Pidge snorted a bit herself at the omission. She had expected that there would still be some lingering doubts for the alien life form in regards to herself and her teammates. She figured that Keith had probably shared his stories of some of what he’d experienced as a kid with the other Blade of Marmora members he encountered. Sure, she and her family had helped to save him, but that certainly didn’t erase the trauma of what had happened before that. She could understand why suspicions would run high for a Marmora member whose only knowledge of Earth was secondhand.

The rest of the drive was quiet. By the time they reached the motel, the sun was completely gone, and night had completely fallen. There weren’t a lot of cars in the lot and, much to Pidge’s relief, the old man running the counter didn’t seem to care that she wasn’t 18; the name on the credit card and ID matching seemed good enough. “There’s two beds and a couch in the room, right?” She asked as she signed it.

“That’s the unit you wanted, right?” He asked as he leaned back, grabbing a set of keys and handing them to her. There was a oval, leather keychain attached to them with the numbers 37 on them. “Room’ll be on the other side of building 3. Let me know if you need anything.”

“Yup. Just making sure,” She said as she took them. She gave him a quick salute before scampering out to the vehicle and waggling the keys above her head. “Got it.” She said proudly as she settled back into the passenger’s seat.

“Good. Do they have a list of restaurants or anything around here? I’m starving,” Hunk asked as Lance turned the buggie over.

“Oh, yeah. We did miss dinner call, huh?” Lance hummed.

“Well, I doubt there’s a whole lot in the area. Maybe a pizza or something?” She suggested before pausing to point. “He said it’s in building 3.”

“Did he specify if it was on the first or second floor?”

“Ah, no. But there aren’t a whole lot of people here, so it’s probably the first floor,”

Thankfully enough, she was right about it being on the first floor. Hunk and the Marmora member carefully hefted Shirogane out of the vehicle and into the room. It wasn’t particularly large, being just large enough to house the two beds, couch, a small table and a little kitchen nook, but it would be big enough. They deposited Shirogane on to the bed while Pidge herself looked up nearby restaurants. She smiled and hummed. “Okay, there’s a pizza place in a little shopping plaza not too far from here. Looks like a 20 minute drive or so,” She hummed, walking over and settling into one of the two small chairs in front of the table.

After a brief conversation, she ended up placing an order for three pizzas; one cheese, one meat lover’s, and one supreme. She then glanced over at Shirogane again. “He’s still out like a light, huh?” SHe commented.

“He was in the infirmary at the time I took him. I believe they had just given him a sedative, so that’s probably part of it,” The Marmora agent commented.

She nodded. “Well, since the order’s in, why don't you three go pick it up? And hit a store while you’re there?”

“What do we need at a store?” They asked skeptically.

“Well, I’m sure Shirogane would like to take a shower and change out of those, so he’ll need some toiletries and clean clothes. Plus, we’ll need toiletries for ourselves, too,” She said, indicating the tattered purple rags they were sporting. She then glanced back up at the Marmora agent. “Plus, if you’re going to be hanging around here, you should probably get some Earth clothes. Help you blend in a little better.”

“And we’re supposed to go with him because…?” Lance trailed with a raised eyebrow and cocked hip.

“Because I know I can trust Pidge to stay put. You two, however,” Marmora member said, turning to look at the other two, “I am still unsure about. But if that is what you think is best, then we’ll do it.”

She nodded and pulled out her card, offering it over to Hunk. “It looks like there’s a Walmart not too far from the pizza place. Get some drinks and plates at the store, too,” She said.

He looked between her and the card before sighing and taking it. “Just be forewarned that I might buy some extra snacks. Because all this? Everything happening right here, right now?  _ Very. Stressful _ ,” He drawled out before tucking the card into his back pocket.

“Same!” Lance called out.

“That’s fine so long as you keep things at a reasonable price. Just get going already,” She said, waving them off as she headed back over to the table. She got her laptop out and began setting things up, making notes in her notebook. “Oh, and you should probably park the buggie a little ways off, just in case the Garrison comes snooping around.”

Lance huffed softly before turning and heading out, Hunk and Marmora close on his heels. Hunk took shotgun while Marmora settled in the center back seat, poised to keep an eye on both of them, he figured.

Once they were backing out, Hunk let his head slump against the headrest of the seat.

“I said we should stay in the dorm. But  _ no _ ! Let’s go out into town, you said! Let’s take Pidge and do some team bonding, you said!” Hunk huffed, gesturing out towards the desert through the windshield. “Well, look how  _ that _ idea turned out! We’re  _ so dead  _ if we get caught! We’ll be expelled, or worse!”

“Then we just won’t get caught!” He hissed back with a shake of his head. “Dude, don’t blame  _ me _ ! I didn’t know  _ this _ was how it was gonna go! I mean, I always knew that Pidge was a weird guy, but I didn’t think he’d go so far as to adopt some random alien he found in the desert! Next thing you know, he’ll want to  _ name _ it!”

“ _ You  _ went along with his plan so you’re  _ just _ as much to blame!” Hunk grumbled.

“By the way, I’m not an ‘it’; I’m a male. And I have a name,” The alien scoffed after a brief pause in the conversation, reaching up with one clawed hand to drop the hood of his outfit.

“Oh, yeah? And what’s that?” Lance scoffed.

“It’s Keith,” He said, reaching up and removing the mask. He let out a long sigh, shaking his head to ruffle his pitch black hair. His ears tipped up and out, delighting in no longer being hidden. He made a mental note to make sure to comb through his hair and straighten out his ear fluff a bit later on. He then reached down to untuck the tip of his tail from where he’d tucked it between his stomach and belt, allowing it to fluff back out and sway behind him, a delighted trilling noise coming from him at the freedom.

_ That _ felt amazing. His equilibrium always felt screwy when he had to tuck down his tail; manageable, but uncomfortable.

He saw the larger male - Hunk, he believed he’d been called? - look at him with wide eyes, looking him up and down. He wasn’t necessarily surprised; humans weren’t as familiar with lifeforms from other planets as the rest of the galaxy he had traversed. The strange look on the other’s face seemed a bit too much, though. Then, he let out a giggle that sounded on the verge of hysterical, before saying, “Keith? Pretty human name for a purple cat man from space.”

“Well, considering I’m half human,” Keith trailed, reaching into one of his pouches, “it makes sense. It was the name my father picked for me.”

“So you’re half human on your dad’s side? That’s kinda cool. What’s the other half?” Hunk asked. He still seemed incredibly unnerved, but the fact he was at least somewhat curious reassured Keith that he most likely lacked any kind of malicious intent.

He still wasn’t sure about the loud-mouth in the front seat, though.

“My mother is from a race called the Galra. I take more after the Galra in regards to physical appearance, though I’m a bit on the small size when it comes to body structure. She says that I look a lot like my grandfather on her side,” He explained before letting out a small hum as he finally found what he was looking for. He carefully slipped the little bracelet on his wrist before flicking it on, causing his skin to shift to a paler hue. It had been years since he’d had to use his camouflage device, but he’d always kept it close by. Partly due to the potential of needing it at some point, and partly because it reminded him of a happier time.

Hunk made another choked noise in the driver’s seat. “You! How did you do that?” He sputtered.

“With this,” He said, shifting a bit more in his seat to let the other get a better look at the device.

“Oh, looks like a cloaking device of some sort,” He hummed, turning more fully to face him and reaching out. He pulled Keith’s wrist a bit closer, turning his arm this way and that. His heisitance had apparently been quashed by his fascination. “Hmm. Does it have multiple modes or just the one? Like, if you needed to turn into a two-headed bird creature with, like, six tentacle-esque limbs and twelve eyes and horns that shoot venom or something, could you do it?” He asked, dark eyes bright with intrigued.

“Not without a secondary data chip, no. I only have on that allows me to be human, If I wanted to be able to imitate a Rqueltruan like you suggested, I’d need a data chip loaded up with information about the specifics of their race,” He said with a small shrug.

The other froze, eyes widening to the size of dinner plates. “W-Wait… I just made that thing up! Those are  _ real _ ?” He choked out anxiously.

A part of Keith told him that he really shouldn’t be teasing these humans, but a much larger part of him was kind of enjoying it.

“Oh, totally. But they shoot acid, not venom. Really lethal things, too,” He hummed out airily.

“ _ Lance _ !” Hunk screeched, looking over at the driver with tears starting to well up in his eyes.

“Hunk,  _ calm down _ ! He’s probably just messing with us!” The other scoffed, glaring at Keith from the rear view mirror.

He flopped back against the seat and crossed his arms over his chest, lifting one eyebrow slowly. “Oh really? Do you speak from experience?”

“No, but I can tell these things. I’m pretty good at reading people. There’s something about you that just seems… Off. I mean, you roll into orbit with a pilot considered to be dead for a little over a year? Something seems real shady about this whole thing,” He grumbled back, stealing a few glances at the road before reaching up and adjusting the mirror again. With how he moved it, he could more precisely glare back at the other. “Just because Pidge trusts you doesn’t mean that we do.”

He hummed. “Pidge is… Different from the two of you,”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

He shrugged. “Take it however you want. Just understand that the feeling is mutual between us. I don’t know if either of you are trustworthy, either. I’ll be courteous to you as long as you don’t get in the way of my mission,” He said loftily before letting his gaze fix on the desert scenery as it whirled by.

It had been years since he’d been here, but it still had some strange sense of familiarity to it. A part of him wished that he could open some kind of window and stick his head out, take in the scent of the sand and the feel of warm air shuffling his hair. He had loved when Dad used to take him for late night drives with the windows down during the summers he used to spend on the planet.

But it had been years since his last trip here, which called his mind back to the present.

He could tell just by how they had known about the Blade of Marmora that Pidge had to be Katie. There was no argument there, which made sense. He’d been gone for almost a decade of time, so her growing and changing only made sense, but he was a bit confused as to why she used her nickname. Furthermore, he knew this vehicle had to be a piece of Garrison property, simply from what had been said about it by Pidge, Lance and Hunk. But what was Katie doing in a Garrison base? And why were these two clinging on to her?

He decided that it’d be a subject to approach once they got back to the hotel.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------

The screen flashed, interrupting the late night talk show with an immediate news alert. Official from the Garrison, regarding their most recent exploration. Project Kerberos, as they called it publically, with very little said about the full details.

She clutched the banister tight as the screen flickered to reveal the three Garrison officials sent on the assignment. Two of them faces she’d known all her life, while the third an acquaintance. All gone, the newscaster announced.

Her heart felt like it turned to stone and shattered. And then they made the claim of what had caused them to be gone.

_ Pilot error. Pilot error. Pilot error.  _ **_Pilot. Error._ **

\------------------------------------------------------------------------

“But now, here you are,” She mumbled, staring at the still-prone form laid out on the bed. For all her theories and proclamations about the Kerberos scandal, she had only a very limited amount of concrete proof to back her claims. And, admittedly, most of her evidence was hidden in confidential files that she’d have to be meticulous about duplicating and leaking to the public.

But now, Takashi Shirogane himself, pilot pinned with the fault of the Kerberos failure, was  _ right there _ , proving everything she had said was right.

She sighed and rubbed at her eyes with the heels of her hands, trying to remain some level of composure. What was she going to do now? Should she get in touch with Mom and tell her about this? See what she thought would be the best approach? Would going to the public be a good idea? Or, even more so, would it even be possible to go public? If they tried to reach out to any media outlet, would they run the risk of getting found out and taken into custody?

She knew that if they did get caught, there’d be severe consequences. And a nice little cover up to go with it.

She jumped when the door opened, Hunk and Lance walking in. “How’d it go?” She asked curiously, pushing up and out of her seat. She looked behind them, expecting to see the Marmora agent, but they were gone.

“About as well as can be expected,” Hunk said with a small sigh, setting the three pizza boxes down on the table. Lance had turned and headed towards the bathroom with the bags he’d brought along.

“Where’s the third one?” She asked.

“You’re little pal is heading up with the last few bags. He missed the elevator up,” Lance called back with a dismissive wave.

“He missed the elevator, or you intentionally took it up without him?”

“Is there a difference?”

Pidge rolled her eyes and shook her head. “You know, this is part of why we suck at the simulations. You’re awful at playing nice when you decide you don’t like someone,” She said flatly, opening the door with the intention of heading out to help them. The moment she opened the door, though, she froze at the figure standing before her.

“Thanks for waiting up, loud mouth,” He quipped, voice teetering on the edge of becoming a snarl. She took a step back and stared up at the flashing purple eyes, pinned on the entryway of the bathroom when one of Lance’s hands had appeared, flashing an incredibly rude Earthling hand sign at him.

“Keith?” She asked in soft disbelief.

He turned his attention to her instead, gaze softening just the slightest bit. “Been a while, huh?”


End file.
